Angel, and a Demon
by HTKWolfe777
Summary: Joint fic with Chocoholic Princess! Angel, the sweetest hedghog you're liable to meet! Spike, the least focused nimrod to walk the planet Mobius. When these two meet for the first time it's all laughs, and giggles. However, as time goes on, and they learn more about their respective pasts... What will change? Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everybody! To my beloved fans, you may remember the challenge I left you all with at the end of my first Fic, Operation: "Rewind". The task was that you had to guess which one of the OCs in that story was my personal OC, my Author Insert. Sadly only three people tried, but Chocoholic Princess got the answer right! **

**My AI is Spike! The reward for this was I would star one of her OCs in the sequel, and I will (don't sweat it Princess). But I needed to get a feel for the character's personality so we started a RP. We just kept i going, and now we've decided to make it a story! Please keep in mind we had no idea how this would turn out at first, and I urge you faithful readers not to gleen any hidden messages from this story.**

**That being said, enjoy! Read, and Review please!**

**Angel the Hedgehog is property of Chocoholic Princess!**

_**Chapter 1**_

In the streets of Station Square a small group of friends walks. One is a black cat with gray stripes reminiscent of a tiger's. His eyes are gold, almost glowing, and he's dressed in skintight black clothes. Almost twenty knives are sheathed in various places on his body, and a pair of bladed Tonfa hangs from his hips.

On his left walks a brown bat with sapphire colored eyes. She wears an agent's suit with a green heart-shaped breastplate. She glances around, an eager smirk on her face.

Lastly is an ash colored hedgehog with punk rock clothes. His gloves are black with one inch metal spikes on each knuckle. He rolls his silver eyes towards the cat, "Reave, remind me, why are we doing this again?"

Reave sighs, and turns to face his friend, "Because I wanted you two to meet her, Spike. She was kind enough to aid me during our last mission, and so I wanted to introduce her to my friends."

The bat her neck nervously, "I wonder if she'll like us…"

Reave chuckles, "No worries Cocoa, she actually reminds me a lot of you. I'm sure you'll be fast friends.

Spike folds his hands behind his head, "Okay, so what's her name anyways?"

"Angel." Reave sits on a park bench. Up walks a light purple hedgehog with blue eyes, dressed in dark skinny jeans and a red top.

"Umm...h-hello..."

Spike's eyes go wide, "Whoa! You weren't kidding, she is an angel!" He walks up to her, and extends his hand, "S'up babe? The name's Spike."

Angel blushes and offers her hand "Um...thank you, I think...Babe? Really?" She giggles.

"Well if the boot fits, wear it." He winks, "So, wanna get a doughnut?"

Reave sighs, and folds his ears back. "Miss, if you value your sanity you will not let him eat any sugar."

Spike coughs, "Um, just ignore him! Reave is such a stick in the mud." He ducks as Reave tosses a rock at his head.

Angel looks a bit nervous, "Uh, m-maybe not. I mean, as much as I love doughnuts...Reave kinda looks like he knows what he's talking about...s-sorry..."Spike groans, "Dammit Reave, do you have to make such a big deal out of nothing?"

"Forgive me if I don't want the world as we know it to end."

"Mountains out of Mole-Hills." Spike shakes his head sadly, "Fine is doesn't have to be doughnuts, wanna grab a hot-dog, or are you a vegan?"

Angel chuckles, "Sure thing, I'm not vegan, or vegetarian. Should we invite your friends too? I mean...if you want to, and all..."

"Sure, why not? Hey Reave! Bring Cocoa along, and we can make it a double-date!"

Angel blushes "A-A DATE?! B-but...I...um...we only just met...are you sure?"

Blushes deeply, "Spike, you are such a-!"

"It might be nice," Reave grins at Cocoa. "Besides, we all know that Spike needs a minimum of two babysitters." Cocoa looks at the ground as she shuffles her feet.

Spike frowns while crossing his arms, "You've got a snappy comeback for everything, don't you?"

Reave crosses his arms, "I try, which is more than you can say Mr. Slick."

Angel giggles at Reave, "Babysitters? That sounds exhausting...eh, no offence, Spike..."

Reave nods, "I hope you'll forgive him, Spike's sense of humor is quite lacking."

Angel nods and smiles, "It's fine, Reave."

Spike huffs, "Who said I was joking? And since when do I need "babysitters" anyways? I spent a month on the streets by myself before I met you!"

"And you were half-dead when I found you. Since then I've been watching your back, and front for five years."

Spike looks ticked. "Okay Reave, you're my best friend but this has to stop." Spike summons his sword, a Katana with a crimson blade. "If you think Amy's crazy, you haven't seen anything yet!"

A hammer comes down on his head.

"What was that you jerk?" Amy gives him a deceptively sweet smile, "I thought I heard the word "crazy"."

Spike groans, and turns over onto his back, "Hey baby sis, yeah I was telling Reave here that he's crazy. We were planning to do a double date, and I said that he's crazy for not inviting you, and Sonic."

Amy's eyes light up at the word 'date'. She rushes up to Reave, hands clasped in a begging fashion, "Can we come? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?!"

Spike grabs Angle's wrist, and whispers in her ear, "Quick, while she's in La-La Land let's make a break for it!"

Angel turns to Spike, "Huh, but, she wanted to come. She's your sister, shouldn't we let her? I mean...unless you guys think it's a bad idea..."

Spike groans, "but we're just going out to get a hotdog, but you wanna hafta chase down the fastest thing alive first?"

Reave puts a hand on Amy's shoulder, "Why not call Sonic first to see if he wants to come? If not you're free to come with us."

"Yay!" Amy almost crushes Reave in a hug before skipping off to find a phone.

Spike shakes his head, "Don't get me wrong, Ames is a sweet girl. But she has her... moments..."

Angel grins, "I'm sure it'll be just as fun with those two there. Lighten up, Spike!" She puts a hand on his shoulder, "But what if Sonic doesn't want to come? I mean...Amy can go a little...overboard. She would be upset, I wouldn't want her to be sad..."

Reave nods, and then his ear twitches. He turns around fast with three knives in each hand to come face to face with four Metal Sonics.

Spike groans, "Oh come on! All I wanted was one lousy hotdog!"

Reave stares at the robots, "Regardless, we have to take care these before anyone can get hurt." He crouches, ready to spring.

Spike shouts, "Hey, where are your manners? Haven't you ever heard of 'ladies first'?" Spike calls his sword to him, and grins at the girls.

Cocoa walks up to Angel, "There's one for each of us, want to go first?"

Angel: "Oh wow...sure thing!" She summons her nunchucks, she smirks and leaps at the first Metal Sonic, unleashing a combo attack and destroying it. "Huh...that was easy...your turn..."

Cocoa pulls a square of metal the size of a CD case out of a pocket in her green, and black jumpsuit. In a flash of light she's holing the same sniper rifle she had at the last stand at Tails's lab. She goes into a quick roll to catch the machines off gaurd, and puts a shot between one of the mecha's optic sensors.

Spike whoops, "Hell yeah, OPEN SEASON!"

The last two robots are more upgraded than the other two because they take to the air, and fly circles around Spike, Reave.

The two Mobians stand back to back as they watch the mechas wearily.

Spike says from over his shoulder, "What do you think, 18?"

Reave makes a face, "Against flying adversaries? I'm thinking 21."

Spike grins, and the two lock elbows. Spike spins, lifting Reave off the ground, and throwing him into the air. Reave collides with one of the Mechas, jamming two knives into its neck. He performs a backflip, rolling backwards until he's using his hands to stand with his body half curled onto his shoulders.

Spike leaps onto his friend, landing nimbly on the bottoms of Reave's feet. The cat straightens his body, helping the hedgehog add some extra force to his next leap. Spike spins in the air, crimson blade flashing, as the slices the head of the final Mecha in half. He lands in a badass Samurai crouch with a grin before straightening up.

Reave smiles, "I'm sorry about the babysitting remark."

Spike grins, "Sorry for pitching a fit."

Angel's eyes widen, "Whoa...I'm speechless...that was amazing! You guys were great!"

Spike blushes, "Aw, it's nothing that big..."

Cocoa puts away her gun, "Well we all know Shadow wouldn't let a bunch of plush toys fight with him."

Amy comes back, "Sonic's on his way, and... What in the name of Chaos happened here?"

Spike shrugs, "We got bored waiting on ya, where are we... Oh, shiny!" Spike pulls a fake Chaos Emerald of the remains of his dead Mecha. Cocoa, and Reave follow the suit.

Reave looks up as Sonic skids to a halt beside him, "So where're we headed?"

Reave thinks, "I hear that Twinkle Park makes the best chilidogs in Station Square."

Sonic points at the cat, "Challenge accepted! I happen to know this one guy on Fifth Avenue who makes a pretty mean dog."

Spike pumps a fist in the air, "Awesome, if we pair up then we can get in for free!"

Amy giggles, "Oh Sonikkuuuuu!" She bats her eyelashes at him.

"The things I do for my quest to find the perfect chilidog..."

Spike frowns, "Hey, no badmouthing my sister!"

Angel laughs "So, we're heading to Twinkle Park? Those chillidogs sound yummy! And Sonic, I'm sure you'll have fun with Amy...even if she can be a little...melodramatic...still, she seems nice...and I no longer feel shy around any of you guys." She smiles at Spike

Amy's ears twitch, "Hey, who are you name-calling over there?!"

As Amy starts to run at Angel with her hammer raised, Spike jumps, and grabs her by the waist. He strains to hold Amy back, his feet digging into the ground.

"Sonic, HELP!"

Sonic rushes over, and wraps his arms around Amy's waist too. Amy keeps trying to get within swinging range of Angel, but when she realizes that Sonic is _holding_ her she practically melts into his arms.

Angel has one hand pressed to her chest. "Oh crap...phew! Thank you so much you guys...I really didn't want to have to hurt her defending myself...but it seems like Sonic has things under control haha."

Before Sonic can start freaking out, Reave steps forward, "I can see that you're having fun here, but we did make plans."

Amy grabs Sonic's hand, starts dragging him towards the famous amusement park. Cocoa glances at Reave while blushing. He simply gives her a friendly smile before slipping an arm across her back to rest his hand on her shoulder Spike sighs as they walk off in the same direction his sister took.

"Lucky them, huh?"

Angel glances at Spike "Y-yeah...lucky them...S-shouldn't we go too...y'know? Twinkle Park awaits..."

Spike glances back, a blatant blush on his muzzle, "Yeah... baby sis wouldn't ever forgive me if I made her wait on her "date"… They say only cute couples get in free..." He holds a hand out to her questioningly.

Angel giggles and shakes her head at the thought of what Amy would do "Yeah...we wouldn't want another episode of what just happened." She blushes slightly and smiles, placing her hand in his "Well, let's go!"

Spike smiles,and they too head down the street where a sakura colored hedgehog impatiently waits with a tapping foot.

Angel playfully shakes her head, grinning. "Don't worry Amy, we're coming, hang on, will ya? I know it must be exciting going on a "Date" with Sonic." She teases

Spike holds up a lecturing finger, and says pompously, "Normally I would say it's a bad idea to use the "D" word around baby sis, but that cat's already out of the bag."

Reave shudders, "Spike, you know that's not a phrase that I approve of."

Spike winces, "Sorry dude, forgot..."

Angel giggles "I guess so...perhaps I should refrain from using it then..." She tilts her head in confusion "Why do you not approve of it, Reave?"

A sad expression comes over Reave's features, "There is only one reason a human would put a cat in a bag, and this is not the time, nor place to go into detail."

Amy groans, "Can we please go already? I've been waiting for this my whole life!"

Sonic looks at the elevator to the amusement park entrance, "Yeah guys, can't you hear all those lonely chilidogs in there?"

(Note: The term "let the cat out of the bag" pertains to when people would take freshly born kittens they couldn't keep, put them in a bag, and toss that bag in a river. :( )

Angel goes quiet, and her expression solemn "Oh...I...I'm sorry for bringing it up, Reave" She whispers, turning to face Sonic and Amy "Right...sorry about that. Let's go in, before all those chillidogs run out..." She pulls Spike over to the elevator

Inside the place is hopping; people are squealing as they are tossed about on rides, couples are laughing as they play some obviously rigged carnival games, and the smell of overpriced junkfood lingers in the air.

In short: paradise

Angel's eyes light up at the sight of everything. "Wow...I've never been to anywhere like this before!"

Sonic has his nose in the air, searching for the telltale scent of chilidogs. Amy is latched onto Sonic's arm while she eyes the festivities with uncontained excitement. Cocoa eyes a stuffed Chao plushy at a nearby game. Reave deftly maneuvers them to the game where he hands the Carnie a dollar. Reave gets three baseballs to knock down a huge pyramid of bowling pins held together on planks of wood. Reave grins before throwing the ball over his shoulder. It collides at the pyramid's base, and within seconds the entire thing comes tumbling own The Carnie is so impressed that he gives Reave three different Chao plushies: one dark, one hero, and one neutral. Cocoa accepts then with a blush, and a wide smile.

Spike chuckles, "Showoff."

Angel laughs at Spike's comment, slightly taken aback by Reave's impressive aim. "Huh...he's pretty good at that"

Spike bobs his head in agreement, "Yeah, he's good at just about anything. Except..." He trails off as Reave narrows his eyes at him. Spike grins to himself as Reave spots Sonic struggling to escape Amy as she drags him towards a Ferris Wheel. The cat strides over to do his job as peacemaker with Cocoa not far behind.

Angel tilts her head in curiosity "Except? Except what? Now I'm curious!" She grins, but wonders whether to just drop the subject. She watches as Reave and Cocoa walk away "So..um...w-what should we do? D-do we go with them?" She asks Spike.

Spike pretends to think about it, "Nah, they'll catch up soon enough. Anyways, it looks like we've found everything except the hotdog stand." Still holding her hand he pulls her away from the others. Angel shrugs and lets Spike lead her away.

Spike glances around before leaning to whisper in Angel's ear, "He can't dance."

Spike pulls back, and nods conspiratorially, "It makes him so mad, that he has the grace to take down a squad of navy SEALs, but no matter how hard he's tried to learn, he just can't do it! It's something of a puzzle to me, he has the patience to learn almost any skill, but that one alludes him for some reason."

Her face lights up with a grin and she laughs at what he just whispered "Really? He can't dance? Wow...that's kinda ironic when you say that! Well, I guess no-one is perfect, he has to suck at something, at least. Hasn't Cocoa tried to teach him or anything?"

Spike raises an eyebrow at Angel, "Are you kidding? You saw how awkward she is around him. It's obvious that ever since Rewind failed they've got feelings for each other, but this is the closest they've ever come to showing it." Angel giggles "Awww, that's so cute! They really should get together." She smiles, feeling happy for her two new found friends.

Spike looks around at the rides, "You're right, this place is amazing! While we're here we might as well enjoy ourselves a little."

She turns her attention back to Spike and her face lights up, "Yup! What's the point in coming if we don't go on some of the rides, too! What should we do first? Unless you wanna get that hotdog now, or should we wait for the others?"

Spike pulls her to a ticket booth, "Why don't we let the others do their thing? Our cat and bat buddies might get a wee bit closer with fewer people to worry about looking after. I think we should do the rides first, it's a principle of mine to meet my lunch only once a day." Spike buys a bunch of tickets, and looks around at the different rides.

Angel nods "You're right, we'll leave them to it. Okay then...umm...which one first?" She, too, looks around in awe at the many rides surrounding them.

A sharp squeaking sound makes Spike look straight up. He grins, "How about the Cable Cars? Just imagine what this place looks like from up high!"

Angel hesitates for a moment "Um...s-sure...but...I um" She blushes and looks at the ground, suddenly finding it interesting "I-I...heights k-kinda scare me..." She trails off

Spike looks at her with concern, and then he has an idea. You can almost see the light bulb over his head.

"Well I hate to tell you this, Angel, but pretty much every ride here is gonna put you at least twenty feet off the ground at some point." He looks up at the Cable Cars again, "Those look like they're he highest ride in the park, so why not start at the top, and work our way down? Besides , do you really think I'd let you fall?"

Angel sighs "Y-yeah...I know..." She thinks for a moment, smiling at Spike's kindness "Um...okay...I-I guess so, promise you won't leave? I don't want to face that on my own..." She looks up at the cable cars, feeling a little nervous.

Spike pulls her into a quick hug, chuckling while rubbing her head a bit, "If you keep worrying like that then you won't have any fun!" He takes her hand again, and leads her to the far corner of the park where the station for the Cable Cars is. He gives the conductor two tickets, and they step into the car. It's big enough for about six people, but there's only one other couple in the car. Spike puts his hands over Angel's eyes as the car starts to lift off the ground.

When he takes his hands away they are above the park, and have a full view of the place. The twinkling neon light flash, and swirl hypnotically as the park lays before them like a small sea of light.

Angel's eyes widen, and she starts to tremble slightly "Oh god...we...we're so high...I feel a little dizzy" The beautiful sight before her slightly calms her down, but she cannot shake the feeling of fear, that something is going to happen. "This is amazing...a-are you sure it's safe?" She frowns, looking down, but immediately squeezes her eyes shut and grabs Spike's arm as if it's her lifeline. "Okay...I need to calm down..."

Spike drums two fingers against his chin in thought, and then snaps his fingers. He reaches into his quills, and pulls out two pairs of binoculars, "Here, looking through these will make the ground look a lot closer. Plus we should be able to see the others from up here." Angel takes the binoculars from Spike and thanks him.

He gazes through one pair, "They were on the Farris Wheel... Uh-oh. Houston, we got a problem."

"What?! What is it?" She asks, looking through the binoculars to try and find the others.

"It's Reave, he's in one of the green seats."

Through the binoculars they see the pair in question. Cocoa is blushing from being strapped in so close to Reave, hugging her toys, and stealing glances at him. The cat has both hands on the rod in front of them, his gaze fixed on scanning the crowd in front of him.

Spike sighs, "I know that look, he's looking for escape routes. I don't think he's planning on ditching, but he's letting his protective instincts get in the way of enjoying himself. At this rate their relationship could go under before they can enjoy it..."

Spike takes the binoculars away from his face, and turns to Angel, "This is an emergency! We must intervene!" He raises a fist heroically.

Angel chuckles at Spike "That guy really need to relax and have fun. But you're right, we have to do something, at least..."

Spike strokes a nonexistent beard, "Hmm... Knowing Reave we will need to be careful so he doesn't know we're doing anything. If he even suspects it could ruin it for them. Perhaps an indirect approach... Maybe we could convince Cocoa to do something with him. She might need a little push though, that girl is shakier than a house of cards in a hurricane when it comes to romance."

A sudden thought crosses Spike's mind, "Come to think of it, you and her are a little alike in that area. Maybe you guys think alike?"

Angel nods in agreement "Right! We can't be too obvious about this. Hmmm...maybe so. If that is true, then perhaps something...subtle...is in order. Nothing that will shake her up too much, y'know? Maybe something that involves teams, so she and Reave can be on one team together? Hmmm...I don't know..." She trails off, deep in thought.

Spike puts an arm around Angel's shoulder, and waves a hand at the scenery in front of them, "We have an entire arsenal of carnival rides before us. I need you to think, Angel, if you were in Cocoa's shoes, where would you hope your date would take you after a pleasant Ferris Wheel ride?"

Angel frowns, thinking, "Um...if there was a fireworks display, I'd like to sit with my date and watch under the night sky...but I don't know if Twinkle Park even HAVE fireworks...So I don't know...I-I'm not really very g-good at this, s-sorry" She blushes.

Spike rubs her arm to comfort her, "No worries, I'm pretty sure that Twinkle Park has everything. But just in case they don't maybe all the lights could make the entire park seem like an ongoing fireworks show..."

Angel smiles at Spike "Okay, I guess we'll have to see..."

Spike widens his eyes as an idea hits him like his sister's hammer, "HOLY CROW!"

"Yes?"

Spike turns to see a crow dressed like a priest.

"Uh, sorry dude, figure of speech." The crow nods as he turns back to the window, how had Spike missed him being there before?

She jumps, startled by his outburst, "What is it, Spike?"

Spike is totally mind-blown, "It's genius! We feed Reave's protective side by getting them on a few "scary" rides, and at the same time we try to get Cocoa to make the first move. She'll be so comfortable around him after a few rides that she'll have all the confidence she needs. Plus we can avoid suspicion by acting around Reave like we're trying to get Amy and Sonic to hook up; thank you baby sis!"

Angel taps her chin, thinking. "Y'know...that idea isn't half bad!" She grins "But how do we get them onto those scary rides without it looking suspicious?" She then sighs "I really really hope we don't get caught...I don't want to be on the receiving end of Reave's wrath...especially since it's not long since I've met you guys, I don't want them to hate me..." She trails off

Spike scoffs, "Hate you? Even Mephiles the Dark couldn't hate you! If anything I'd be the one taking the fall, and you'd be the hapless victim who got suckered into my schemes. We won't get caught anyways, so there's nothing to worry about. Just follow my lead, k?"

Angel blushes yet again "Uh...t-thanks...I think...but I wouldn't want you to suffer his wrath on your own! I have my part in this too, it wouldn't be fair." She sighs and nods "Okay! What's the first step?"

Spike rolls his eyes, "I suffer his wrath every day, it's nothing special."

Angel giggles "I guess you must be used to it then."

As they exit the ride on the other side of the park Spike steps back from Angel with a look of shock as he looks at her. "Hey, you're still alive! How about that?" His face breaks into a wide grin.

Her eyes widen at what Spike just said "Y-you're right...I am!" She too, grins "You distracted me with our planning haha, thank you" She gives him a gentle hug in thanks, suddenly feeling much more confident about going on the rides.

"As I always say, 'Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the guts to look you fear in the eye, and spit in it.' I came up with that myself."

Angel laughs "That's very...creative."

Spike grabs a map, and a brochure from a nearby stand. He looks them over, and his face breaks into an evil grin.

"Okay, let Operation: "Love is in the Air" commence!"

He takes Angel's hand, and starts leading her back to the Ferris wheel.

She smirks, following Spike and thinking about their plan. "Right! Let's get to it!"

When they come across the Ferris wheel, they see their friends getting off. Spike grins at Angel before dropping her hand, and dashing towards the others.

"Hey guys, check out what I found! This place has everything! There's roller coasters, helicopter rides, bumper cars - I heard someplace that the bumper cars here are insanely fast, especially the two-person ones!"

Sonic's ears twitch at the words "insanely fast", and Amy's twitch at the words "two-person". They glance at the map, and take off to find the ride.

Reave steps up to Spike, "That was a very kind thing you did there."

Spike looks at him eagerly, "I know, this'll be some awesome road kill, right?"

Reave sighs, and heads off with Cocoa to supervise the two hedgehogs. Behind their backs Spike give Angel a wink, and a thumbs-up.

Angel grins "That was easy, and they don't suspect a thing! So, what's next, Spike?" She asks, eager to find out the next part of the plan.

Spike grins, a gleam in his eye, "Road Rage!"

He leads her to the Bumper Cars where Amy is coercing Sonic into a royal blue bumper car. Reave helps Cocoa into a light green car, and Spike guides Angel to a deep purple car.

"Now for this to work we're gonna need to shake things up a lot," Spike buckles himself in, and helps Angel with hers. "Which means we get to have some psychotic fun!"

Angel grins widely, feeling giddy with excitement "Awesome! This is definitely gonna be fun!" She laughs, waiting for the road rage to commence.

"Yup, just be glad we haven't eaten yet!" And with that the whistle blows, starting the ride. Spike guns the gas, and as it turns out the cars ARE insanely fast! He rams right into the back of Amy's car, and she looks over her shoulder at him. He sticks his tongue out at her while putting the tip of his thumb to his nose, and wiggling his fingers at her. Amy's eyes blaze with anger as she spins the car to give chase.

Angel slightly screams, startled by how fast the car is moving. "Whoa...this is faster than I imagined...cool!" She looks at Amy, seeing a furious aura surrounding her. "Um, Spike...your sister looks like she's going to kill us..." Nonetheless, she grins, in an insanely happy mood. Angel remembers the mission, and looks around to find Cocoa and Reave

As it so happens they are directly on a collision course with the couple. Spike swerves to the side at the last minute, and Amy barrels right past them to collide with Reave.

"Olay!" Spike shouts, and starts laughing maniacally. His laughter fades as the other two pull up on either side of his, and Angel's car.

He hits the brakes as both cars trade paint with him, sending Spike, and Angel into a mad spin for a few seconds.

Angel squeals, clutching the car for dear life. "Wow...this is such an adrenaline rush!" She wonders if the plan is working, and notices Cocoa and Reave seem happy enough in each other's' company. She smiles, lurching forward and yelping when another car hits them from the back.

"Alright!" Spike shouts, "It's on now you two! I suggest you start running!"

Amy gives him a pitiful smile, "And why would we-?" She breaks off as Spike pulls a Hershey's Kiss out of a pocket. Cocoa's, and Amy's faces go pale while Reave licks nervous lips. Sonic looks at all of them questioningly. Spike tosses the chocolate into the air, and catches it in his mouth.

Amy grabs Sonic who's in the driver's seat, and shakes him, "Drive Sonic, drive!"

"I'm driving, I'm driving!" Sonic guns the accelerator, and heads straight for Spike's car.

"Wrong way!" Amy clutches her seat.

Spike pupils grow on a sugar rush, and he hits the accelerator so hard that the tires squeal. His car actually jumps a little as it barrels into Sonic's, sending the blue car skidding back a few yards.

Angel's eyes widen drastically and she screams, seeing nothing but multicolored blurs due to the speed Spike was driving. "SPIKE! Slow down!" She whimpers and closes her eyes, bracing herself. "Oh gosh, as fun as this is...this isn't gonna end well" She mumbles, thinking of how the smallest of chocolates can send Spike so hyper...It was then she was glad they didn't eat yet. "Sonic...Reave...can anyone get him to slow down..."

"Slow down?" Sonic gives her an incredulous look, "This is just getting fun!"

"Sonic Hedgehog! Don't you dare- AAAAHHH!" Amy shrieks as Sonic punches the gas at full speed, and circles around to go after Spike.

"You may be fast on your feet, but you can't outdrive me!" Spike mirrors Sonic's moves, and the two go head to head. At the last second Spike jerks the wheel so the car spins, the rear bumper smashing into Sonic's front bumper, and sending the blue car spinning out of control. Reave notices this, and barely maneuvers his own vehicle out of the way. He punches the gas, and jerks the wheel, barley missing the blue blur by mere centimeters.

Sonic's car bashes into the side of the ring, finally coming to a stop. Amy is pale, and both of them are breathing hard.

From where Spike stopped the car, his pupils shrink back to normal size, "… Um... Oops?"

Sonic looks over at Spike, "That...Was... AWESOME!" While Sonic laughs his head off, Cocoa sighs in relief. She blushes, and hurries to undo her seatbelt when she realizes that she'd been clutching Reave's arm like her life depended on it.

Spike give a low chuckle, and hops out of the car. Amy refuses to unwrap her arms from around Sonic's neck, and Reave puts a comforting arm around Cocoa's shoulders.

Angel slowly steps out of the car too, a little shaken up at what had happened. "I have to admit. That...was...amazing...I wonder if that's how it feels to be Sonic?" She laughs and then sighs in relief that everyone is ok. She looks at Reave and Cocoa from the corner of her eye and smiles to herself, nudging Spike to get his attention. "You think it's working?" She whispers

"I think we're getting there," he whispers back. "One more scary ride, and then we put them through a slower, more romantic ride."

He stops talking as Reave walks up to them, looking displeased, "You know better than that, Spike. ADHD, and sugar never mix well." Reave holds out a waiting hand.

Spike sighs, and pulls a bag of Kisses out of his pocket. Before he hands it to Reave, he gives handful to Angel. Angel nods and smirks, before thanking Spike for the chocolate. She giggles, popping one in her mouth and savoring the taste.

Sonic walks up to them, still wearing Amy like a necklace, "Man, what a rip-off! I need the seven Chaos emeralds, and the Super Emeralds to go Hyper, but all you need is a Kiss!"

Spike sighs, and looks up at the night sky as they leave the bumper cars behind them, "Yup, nothing quite like a good kiss, eh Angel?" He wags his eyebrows at her.

"Oh definitely! It's like heaven!" She replies, noticing Spike's little eyebrow dance and realizes the double meaning behind their conversation.

She blushes heavily at the obvious innuendo, suddenly getting an idea. "So, what do you think, Cocoa? Kisses are great, aren't they?" She asks, giving an oh-so-innocent smile at the girl, and glancing at Reave out of the corner of her eye.

Cocoa scratches the back of her head with a blush, "Yeah, they're sweet."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

Reave raises an eyebrow at Angel, but is distracted as Spike suddenly hits the ground face first. Amy stands over him with her hammer.

"You... absolute... JERK!" she growls at him. "YOU COULD'VE KILLED ME, AND SONIC!"

Spike groans, and gets up to his hands, and knees. He looks up, and his eyes go wide. He jumps to his feet, "No way! Dudes, it's the Turbo Coaster! That's the fastest, and longest roller-coaster in America!" He turns to Sonic, "Hey, I betcha fifty chilidogs that Amy would freak more on that ride than Angel would!"

Sonic's eyes go wide, "You're on!" He picks Amy up bridal style, and dashes for the line.

Spike takes Angel's hand, and pulls her towards the ride. "We...we're going...on THAT?!" Angel's jaw drops at the sight of the speeding ride.

He pulls her close, and puts an arm around her shoulder while he whispers in her ear, "Nice going back there, now Cocoa's thinking about kissing him. But he might be starting to think something's up, so we gotta throw him off our scent somehow."

Any thoughts of impending terror are pushed to the back of her mind as she realizes what Spike is saying. She nods "Right! But how? We can't make it look too obvious..."

"Maybe we should put the mission on the back-burner until we get off the ride." Spike tickles her sides as he leads her into the third car of the coaster, "Until then we act like we're just here for the rides." She squirms out of his grip while fighting a grin.

Sonic climbs into the front with Amy, and Reave sits with Cocoa between the two pairs of hedgehogs. Pretty soon the ride hisses as the coaster creeps towards a tall hill in the tracks.

With each passing moment, Angel becomes more and more anxious. As the ride slowly crept up the steep hill, she could see far out in the distance. It was then she realized how high they were. Whimpering, she clutches the safety bars so tight her hands shake. "S-Spike...I...I don't like this..." She mumbles, not wanting to freak out too much. "I think I prefer the cable cars...they weren't this fast..."

Spike puts a lazy arm around her shoulders, and pulls her close, "I won't let anything happen to you, just hold on to me." In front of them, Amy has her arms around Sonic's midsection, and Cocoa has a hold of Reave by the arm. The coaster comes to a stop at the top of the hill, and for about a minute they're held in place to see the surrounding light show.

Angel leans on Spike, grateful for his presence. "Th-thank you...I'm just...I'm just glad I'm not at the front..." When the ride stops, she squeezes her eyes shut, knowing what is going to happen, and waiting for the inevitable drop. She clings to Spike, trying to steady her breathing. "I-I'm sorry..." She whispers...then suddenly...the ride plummets downwards at breakneck speed...

As they barrel through the twists, turns, loops, and corkscrews of the ride, a series of speakers play "Live, and Learn" by Crush 40 for the passengers to hear.

Spike is having the time of his life, laughing while wrapping his other arm around her shoulders. "C'mon!" He yells out at the ride, "Is this really the best you got?! The kid rides were scarier than this!"

"Amen!" Sonic calls back as Amy is screaming next to him. Cocoa is watching the track in front of them, holding on to the front of Reave's shirt.

Angel groans, hearing Spike and Sonic, and wants nothing more than to put her two feet back on the ground. She tries to distract herself by thinking of the plan for Cocoa and Reave, but a particular gut-wrenching loop leaves her unable to think about nothing but the ride. "...How can anyone enjoy this..." "Spike!" She yells over the music and the wind whipping at her face, "Why did you drag me on this?! All for chillidogs?!"

Spike glances at the others, and then he winks at her.

"Hey guys," he calls to the others. "I think we should tone it down a little bit on the next ride! Angel's freaking a little back here!"

"Spike Rose," Amy yell back at him. "When we get off this ride I'm gonna kill you! And then I'm going to make Tails clone you so I can kill your clones! And then..."

Amy continues like this for the next few minutes until the ride comes to a stop. Cocoa is a bit freaked as Reave rubs her arms. Amy has her arms around Sonic's neck, and her legs wrapped around his mid-drift. Spike is hugging Angel, "So Sonic?"

Sonic sighs, "I guess you won."

"Awesomeness, dinner's on Sonic, everybody!"

Reave gives Spike a hard look, "Perhaps we had best avoid the more intense rides for the remainder of our time here."

"Chill cat," Spike waves him off. "We all made it off alive, and that was probably the most intense ride here. Anything else is small taters."

He glances at Angel, and then looks over her shoulder, "But we could ride that. What do you think, Ames?"

Amy looks where he's pointing, and spots the Tunnel of Love ride.

Angel releases the breath she didn't know she was holding "Yes! Thank you, Reave! I don't think I can stomach another of those..." She grimaces, returning Spike's hug. "At least, not yet..."

Amy suddenly squeals, and Angel, too, looks at what Spike is pointing at. Noticing the neon sign of the ride, she realizes it's the perfect addition to the plan.

"Nice idea, Spike" She whispers to him "Amy will drag Sonic on that, then Cocoa and Reave are sure to follow." She chuckles, feeling a lot calmer than before.

"I'm more than just a pretty face," Spike whispers back, and takes her hand to lead her to the ride.

Sonic is practically dragged there by Amy, and he goes pale when they get to the line. "Uh... Water?"

"No worries Sonikku," Amy purrs as she leans into him. "This time you can hold on to me."

"Uh-huh," Sonic mumbles, not really paying attention to her while he's pulled into a swan boat. Spike climbs into the boat behind them with Angel, and Reave brings up the rear with Cocoa.

As they approach the tunnel, Spike pulls out a Cell Phone. "Hello," he whispers into the receiver. "Hey Rouge, I need a favor...Well, do you remember the special ammo I made with Wolf a few weeks ago? ...Well, do you think that you could load some into a few drones?… I'm going to need them at Twinkle Park within the next few minutes... Yes... Yes... Done... You heard me,I said I'll do it...T-that has nothing to do with it, just trust me that it's for the best...Just make sure that they're over Twinkle Park within the next ten minutes." He hangs up with a sigh, "Rouge drives me bats, I swear!"

Angel giggles at the pun. "Rouge? What is she doing? And just what exactly did you agree to do for her?" She grins at him, curiosity getting the better of her. She hoped that this ride would finally give Cocoa and Reave the final push that they needed.

"You'll see," Spike grins, loving keeping her in suspense. "I promise it's only slightly illegal."

Angel smirks "Slightly, huh? Well, that makes all the difference." Then the tunnel lights dim, and the song "Kiss the Girl" from the Little Mermaid starts playing. Spike pulls a small mirror from his quills so he can look behind them at Reave without being conspicuous.

Cocoa is glancing sidelong at Reave, Chao toys in her lap. Reave's eyes are narrowed as he watches the other two boats. Cocoa takes a breath before setting her toys to the side, and scooting closer to Reave. Slowly she leans into him, and folds her hands nervously in her lap.

Reave moves his eyes to her in mild surprise before a soft smile comes to his lips. He snakes an arm around her waist, and pulls her closer. Cocoa's eyes widen in surprise, but then she relaxes into him, a small sigh escaping her lips.

"We're making some major progress, "Spike whispers, handing Angel the mirror. "Now all we need is the syncher."

She looks in the mirror Spike handed to her, seeing Cocoa and Reave snuggling together. "Awww...you're right. We've really done well!" She whispers in return, feeling anticipated for Spike's plans. "I can't wait to see how this turns out" She grins

Spike smiles, and they're quiet for a few minutes. He blinks, and blushes when he realizes that he's been staring at her. Hopefully the lighting is poor enough that she doesn't notice.

A small shriek draws his attention forward, and he grins. Just as the first chorus of "Tra-la-la-la-la"s of the song are heard, a flurry of different colored rose petals start to fall. They sail right into the soft storm of flowers.

Angel could feel someone's eyes on her but, oblivious to Spike's prominent blush, is distracted by the colorful falling petals before she can think on it further. "Well...isn't this just romantic..." She says, knowing that Cocoa would be blushing.

Spike smiles, and looks down at a light weight in his lap. A deep red Rose has been tossed into his lap, and he picks it up while glancing at Angel. He clears his throat, and taps her on the shoulder before offering it to her.

A glance over his shoulder shows Reave with both arms wrapped around Cocoa, a similar rose clutched in her hand. She looks so at ease with her eyes closed to content slits.

Angel blushes fiercely, flattered and surprised by the sweet gesture. She takes the rose from him "Th-thank you..." She smiles at him.

"I wonder how those two are getting on...Sonic and Amy, too." She comments

Spike lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as he looks up towards his sister, and her crush. Amy is leaning against Sonic, but the blue speedster's quills are nearly standing on end. Obviously he's not enjoying himself, what with the slow ride, and the unfamiliar contact; but with Amy so close, and nowhere to run he bears it as best he can.

"I think my little surprise later on should put him back on his feet," Spike says. He blinks when he sees them headed for a pitch dark tunnel. He chuckles while discretely pointing at Reave's boat, "It's kinda like a cake going in the oven, eh? I can't wait to see how it turns out."

Angel laughs, "He certainly doesn't look too comfortable there!" She blinks at Spike, raising her eyebrow "...you sure are being secretive about this...what have you and Rouge been planning, hm?" She asks, wanting to know, even if Spike isn't telling her.

Spike smirks, and folds his hands behind his head, "Don't worry, Sweetness! The ride's almost over, so you'll see in a few minutes."

Their boat enters the dark tunnel, and Spike can't help but stare. The tunnel is so dark that he can't even see the front of their boat, but all across the ceiling, and walls are the tiniest twinkling lights ever seen. It gives the impression of being surrounded by stars. Angel sighs, her eyes trying to adjust the pitch blackness around them.

Spike chews his bottom lip nervously, a sudden though making him blush all over. He gently trails a finger across the back of his seat to find Angel in the darkness. After finding her, he takes the back of her head in his hand, and gently presses his lips to what he hopes is her cheek.

"Fine, but it better not be too illegal...I don't want to have to-" She suddenly stops short, feeling a hand on her head and something warm on the corner of her lips and cheek. She frowns "What was-oh..." Her eyes widen, realizing what it was...another pair of lips. Angel is suddenly grateful for the darkness, so the prominent redness on her face cannot be seen. "I...um...Spike..." She trails off, deep in thought, wondering if it was just the effects of the ride that caused him to do that.

Spike closes his eyes, he's obviously upset her. He pulls back, leaving his hand on top of hers, and faces towards the front of the ride.

In his head, his thoughts are a whirlwind:

_Great, now I've done it! The first girl I can hold a conversation with without being smacked to Oz, and I make her uncomfortable... I guess it's understandable, what with all the scary ride while knowing she hates heights... I'll find some way to make it up to her..._

Angel notices Spike's sudden change of mood. "S-Spike...a-are you okay?" She asks, still blushing, and maneuvers her hand to hold his. "You seem a little...quiet..." She hopes she hasn't upset him.

Spike puts on a smile, forgetting that she can't see him, "It's all good, Angel! I'm just over here thinking too much for my own good." He lets out a quiet laugh.

Angel frowns, concerned "Well...okay...but I...I didn't mean to upset you, if I did..." She goes quiet. "I was just surprised is all...you know how shy I can be..." She gives a little nervous giggle, and wonders if he feels awkward.

Spike almost chokes, holding back a surprised laugh. She thinks that _she_ has upset _him_?! He's shaking with quiet laughter as he pulls her close.

"Great minds... * snicker* Really _do_ think alike. I thought you were mad at me, Sweetness. But even if you're not, I think what comes next should make your night."

Angel sighs, her eyes trying to adjust the pitch blackness around them.

Spike presses a kiss to her forehead, and the end of the tunnel come into view. Suddenly Sonic's boat drops out of view, going over a small waterfall. Spike holds Angel closer as they to go over.

About a minute later they are off the boats, and Spike sends Rouge a text. The reply is almost instantaneous, and makes him grin widely.

"3... 2... 1..."

Above them comes the sounds of small engines, and suddenly the night sky is lit up with fireworks. Reds, Greens, Blues, and Purples explode against the stars, making everyone stop to watch.

Angel is immediately distracted by the colorful art in the sky. Her jaw drops and she is awestruck, momentarily forgetting about Cocoa and Reave, and Sonic and Amy. "S...Spike...this is what you were planning with Rouge? It's...it's amazing...It's better than amazing...I can't even find a decent adjective to describe it. It's so beautiful..." Her eyes never leave the dancing fireworks, and she leans close to Spike, feeling happier than she has in a while.

Spike grins as he laces his fingers through hers, all the while being mindful of the one-inch metal spikes on each of his knuckles. He spares a quick glance at the others before turning his attention back to the aptly named Angel in his grasp.

Cocoa, and Reave each have an arm wrapped around each other as they look dumbstruck at the fireworks. Reave blinks, and looks down at the slightly shorter bat. With a grin he uses a gentle hand to bring her lips to his, and a different kind of fireworks goes off for them.

Amy glances at the side to Sonic, who is grinning at the light show. She stands on her tip-toes, and plants a kiss on his cheek. To Spike's surprise, Sonic doesn't run away. Instead he pulls her into a hug, and nuzzles her head.

As the fireworks fade, the other couples in Twinkle Park cheer with applause for the unexpected show. Spike whispers into Angel's ear, "Mission Accomplished."

Angel nods "I couldn't agree with you more. We even got Sonic to show affection to Amy...that must have been a pretty awesome plan" She laughs. "We better hope Reave doesn't find out about this...or Amy...I really don't feel like being pounded to death by her hammer..."

She suddenly smirks, looking at Spike. "So, what was it you had to do for Rouge in exchange for this?"

Spike rolls his eyes, and he notices a hand beckoning to him from around a corner. He makes an excuse to the others about finally finding the chilidog stand, and pulls Angel after him to the building.

Rouge is leaning on the other side with her arms crossed, and a smirk, "Well? How'd it go?"

"It was perfect, thank you."

"Aww, I got a thank you as a tip." Rouge stands up straight with her hands on her hips, "But you still owe me one week's worth of massages. Of course you want to get your hands on me anyways-"

"I told you that has nothing to do with it," Spike growls through his teeth, and his grip on Angel's hand tightens the slightest bit. "It was for Reave, and Cocoa alright?!"

Rouge raises an eyebrow, "Really Well you're the last person that I would've expected to be playing Matchmaker..." She notices Angel for the first time, "Oh who's this?"

"Rouge, this is Angel. Angel, Rouge."

"Nice to meet you Sweety," Rouge rolls her shoulders. "Well I better get those Shadow Androids back to the Egg-Carrier before Shadow notices they're gone."

Rouge waves before taking off. Spike puts an arm around Angel's back before headed back to the others. Angel smirks "Massages, huh? Wow, Spike, you sure are willing to do anything if it means getting Cocoa and Reave together, even giving Rouge a week's worth of massages. You must really want your hands on her." She teases and laughs, holding her stomach.

Reave is standing just around the corner, arms crossed. His face is blank save for a single raised eyebrow.

As they walk round the corner, they stop short, noticing Reave. Angel freezes and holds her breath, slightly panicking. "Uh...h-hey Reave...w-what are you doing here? Is everything okay?" She asks, trying to sound nonchalant.

Spike gulps, "Hey Reave... We were just, um..."

"I know exactly what you were doing," Reave says in a monotone. "What you've been doing ever since the Ferris Wheel."

Angel's jaw drops "Wh-What?! How did you..."

Spike moans, "Busted... What gave us away?"

Reave ticks off on his fingers, "First, you couldn't wait to get away from the rest of us when we first got here. Any awesome ride you found you would have waited a lot longer to share with the rest of us. Two, on every ride the partners were the same; you two, Sonic with Amy, and Cocoa with me. Third, each ride that we went on was designed so we would always be in close proximity. Fourth, everything fell into place when you pointed out the Tunnel of Love ride. Angel, I mean no offence, but you are an extremely shy girl. When you didn't blush your head off at the sight of the ride, then it was guaranteed that something was afoot."

Angel folds her ears back, "You're smarter than I gave you credit for, Reave. I should have known not to underestimate you." She then grimaces "I should have known my stupid shyness would play a part in this..." She notices Reave is quiet, and is sure this will end badly. "Uh...well, nice talking to you, Reave...I'm just...gonna go...Talk to Amy! Yeah!" She says, trying to get away from Reave, who she is sure will kill them. She goes to walk off

Before she can go too far Reave puts out a hand, and ruffles her quills. His face softens into a smile, "That was very kind of you two, thank you. I promise to do my best to make sure all your hard work didn't go to waste."

He reaches into a pocket, and pulls out Spike's bag of sweets. He gives it to his friend, and raises an eyebrow in a silent warning. Then he turns to head to the others.

Spike's mouth drops open, and he glances at Angel.

Angel freezes, meeting Spike's gaze. "...What...was that? He just gave you _sugar_! He didn't _kill_ us? _What_ just happened?" She asks, utterly confused.

Spike licks his lips, and stows the bag in a pocket, "Well... I guess it's kinda hard for him to be mad right now, what with a make-out session not too long ago. Plus, he doesn't enjoy dishing out pain, no matter how good at it he is... We'd better get a move on." He holds out a hand to Angel, "It also might just be that you're good luck." He grins.

Angel takes his hand and grins "Good luck? Huh...that'd be cool!" Her grin suddenly gets wider "So Spike...shouldn't you be going to find Rouge now?" She teases, her eyebrows doing a little dance, and laughs.

With a grunt that's half annoyance, half amusement, he grabs Angel and hugs her front behind, "True, but she never said when I owed her those massages. Besides, why should I think about her when I've got a way cuter girl in my arms right now, eh?"

Angel blushes "Well...I don't know...Rouge is kinda pretty." She pulls away from him and grins "I hope you know I find this situation completely hilarious...and I will keep teasing you" She winks, feeling mischievous, and walks away towards the others.

Spike gives a toothy grin, and puts his face close to hers, "Don't ever put yourself down like that." He gives her a peck on the cheek before dashing ahead, laughing.

Angel rolls her eyes whilst grinning "Yeah yeah, Mr. Smooth. Wait up, will ya!" She walks off after him, shaking her head playfully.

When they get to the others they're all at a table in Twinkle Park's Food Court. As soon as she sees them, Amy darts, around the table, and glomps them. Spike's eyes bulge as her arms wrap around both their necks.

"You two just gave me the best night of my life, thank you so much!"

"Sis... Can't... Breath!"

Angel grins and puts an arm around her "Awww, it's no problem Amy. It was Spike's idea, he just dragged me into it" She laughs, looking at Sonic, who has a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks.

Amy gets up, and skips back to Sonic's side. Sonic lets her wrap an arm around him before pointing an accusing finger at Spike, "It's about time you showed up, man! We had to wait on you guys before we could order those chilidogs!"

Amy does an impression of Sonic's voice, "Eating a chilidog cold is blasphemous, and my mom taught me that everyone has to be at the table before anyone can eat."

Cocoa laughs from her perch on Reave's leg, and the cat chuckles.

Angel smirks at Sonic "Dude...there are more things to life than chillidogs" She scolds in a playful manner, rolling her eyes. "Well...I guess we should get those chillidogs before Sonic perishes from not eating one all day"

Sonic gasps, horrified, "I thought you were supposed to be an Angel, but you put down the greatest gift that the Powers that Be put on this earth? Such blasphemy!"

Spike rolls his eyes, "I'm surprised you even know that word, dude." He pulls out a chair for Angel, and takes a seat in one next to it.

Cocoa giggles, "Now boys, we're in public! You two should behave yourselves."

Spike gives her wide innocent eyes, "Yes mommy."

Spike is knocked out of his chair when Reave nails him between the eyes with a glass salt-shaker.

"AGH! SALT IN MY EYES! SALT IN MY EYES!"

Angel tries to stifle a laugh, but fails miserably as she clutches her sides laughing. "S-Spike, I'm so sorry! But that was hilarious!" Tears come to her eyes from laughing so much, and she notices Spike rolling around on the floor. "Nice aim there, Reave, but did you really have to aim for his head?" She asks, offering Spike her hand to help him up.

Reave soaks a napkin in a glass of water before tossing on Spike's face, "Yes, he helps me keep in practice that way."

Spike wipes the salt off his face with the napkin, and groans, "What have I done to deserve this?"

"You mean besides dissing the hero of Mobius?" Sonic smirks, and smugly wipes his nose.

"Please," Spike takes his seat again. "Shadow is so much better than you. The only reason you even stand a chance against him is because someone decided to put your name on all the merchandise."

"Oh yeah?" Sonic narrows his eyes, "Then how come Shadow's game sucked?"

Spike cleans out an ear with a little finger, "Sorry, what?"

Sonic rolls his eyes, and cups his hands around his mouth, "I SAID, THEN WHY DID SHADOW'S GAME SUCK?!"

All's quiet for a minute, and Sonic looks at the others. Cocoa is looking at him with wide eyes, and Reave is shaking his head at the ground. Amy has her hands clasped over her mouth, and Spike is looking at him smugly. Sonic feels a weird sensation on his neck, and turns around to see Shadow standing behind him.

"Hey Shads," Sonic grins, not concerned in the least. "What's up?"

"Shut up Faker. I'm tracking a few Androids that left the Egg-Carrier without my permission, seen anything?"

Sonic looks up, thoughtful, "Y'know, before those fireworks went off earlier I coulda sworn I heard something like those thrusters those things use."

Spike puts a hand on Angel's shoulder, and slowly the two of them sink out of sight under the table. "Okay," he whispers. "We need a Plan B - AAAAHHHH!"

Spike is dragged out front under the table by his ankle, and held upside-down by a very annoyed Shadow.

Spike gulps, "H-hey Shadow! What's happening?"

Shadow narrows his eyes, "That's what I want to know."

Angel goes wide-eyed, and stands up. "Uh, Shadow...why are you doing that to Spike? He hasn't done anything...M-maybe if you keep looking, you'll find them..." She says, struggling to think of something to say to the Ultimate Lifeform, but not wanting to anger him.

Shadow turns his crimson eyes to Angel, "...I don't think I know you..."

Spike tries to act nonchalant, "Oh Shadow, this is Angel. Angel, meet Shadow the - OOF!"

Shadow cuts him off by letting his head hit the ground before holding him in the air again, "Everyone already knows who I am, you idiot. Now tell me, just what were you doing with my machines?"

Angel gulps, feeling a little overwhelmed by Shadow's attitude. But suddenly, she gets a burst of confidence, "Just hold it, Shadow." She stands up and faces him "You may be the Ultimate Lifeform, but do you really need to be so harsh?" She can feel confidence breaking down under Shadow's piercing glare.

Shadow stares at her for a minute. "Hmph," he throws Spike through the air, causing him to bounce off a light pole, and land in a garbage can.

"Three points," Sonic quips.

Shadow ignores him, and crosses his arms, "Very well... Angel. Would you mind telling me where my Androids are?"

Angel gasps "Umm...they're...uh..." She stutters, feeling her confidence go down worse than before. "I-I-I don't know..." His stare never breaks away from her, and she feels uncomfortable. "I...I have to go..." She hurriedly moves her chair, before attempting to move away.

Spike pops out of the garbage can, "Shadow you bully! What the hell, were you trying to kill me?!"

Shadow growls, and turns to Spike, but Reave steps in front of him.

"Indeed they were here earlier," Reave tells him in a calm voice. "They set off some fireworks, and then they left. I suspect that by the time you return to the Egg-Carrier that they will all be accounted for."

Piercing gold eyes meet fierce crimson ones as they hold each other's gaze.

"Hmph," Shadow turns away,and Chaos Controls away.

Spike climbs out of the garbage can, and tries to dislodge any trash from his quills, "Remind me, why do we work with him?"

"Because he is an honorable man, and we owe him for saving our lives," Reave takes his seat again.

"Right," Spike pulls a Cotton Candy cone out of his quills. "Well, I need to wash up, so start without me, k?" Spike walks off to find the nearest restroom.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter Three_**

Moments later, Angel walks back to the group, suddenly feeling shy.

"Thank chaos he's gone...I seriously couldn't handle that...s-sorry..." she says, biting her lip and calming herself down.

Amy waves her off, "It's okay. Shadow is one of the good guys, but we all know how intense he can be. He's not that great with new people either."

"At least there were no guns, like when he first met me," Cocoa shivers at the memory.

Angel sits back down in her seat, frowning in concern at Cocoa, "Why? What happened?"

Cocoa clears her throat, and rubs the back of her head, "Well actually it's kind of a funny story looking back on it. It was during the epidemic about a month ago, remember when we all thought Zombies were trying to kill us all? Well GUN had sent every available agent out into the field to try and contain it, including desk workers like me. I work for GUN Intelligence, Angel. Anyhow, since I had some experience working with Rouge, they sent me to rendezvous with her, and Shadow. Five years earlier I'd been on a mission with her... It didn't end well, so I thought she might try to get rid of me if she knew I'd been ordered to work with her.

"But back to the point, I'd decided to hide, and aid from afar... Also didn't work out too well. They were at Amy's house while trying to track down Sonic, and a bunch of Metal Sonic's attacked."

"Did a number on my yard too," Amy giggles. "Just imagine trying to explain a few craters in the lawn, and a shotgun in my bushes to my gardener!"

"Right," Cocoa picks the story back up. "Well, after it was over I accidentally slipped out of the tree I'd been hiding in, and naturally they heard me. Shadow was in front of me with a handgun pointed between my eyes, but Rouge vouched for me. I remember passing out because I was so scared, and after that I woke up on Amy's couch."

Angel was surprised at Cocoa's story, "...Whoa...I mean, that sure must have been pretty scary...Shadow is scary enough without a gun, it's no wonder you passed out! So...are you and Shadow okay now? I mean...he doesn't hate you or anything, does he?"

Cocoa shakes her head with a small smile, "Oh no! During our "Last Stand" at Tails's lab I think we all gained at least a grain of his respect. I showed him what I could do with a sniper rifle, and he doesn't see me as useless anymore. Out on the Egg-Carrier we're like a little family of soldiers almost, and I think you made a good first impression with him just now."

Reave nods in agreement, "I think his impression of you just now was "She's loyal to her friends, but she's not stupid enough to seriously challenge me" or something to that effect."

Spike walks up to them, shaking a little water out of his slightly moist quills, "Yeah, it's probably a good thing you kept the nunchucks put away."

Angel is taken aback, and raises her eyebrows "I made a good impression...by backing down?" She frowns in thought, taking in Reave and Spike's comments "Yeah, well, maybe I should have done that...instead of backing down..." Sighing, she closes her eyes, knowing that the situation would have taken a completely different turn if she had have challenged him.

Spike puts an arm around her shoulders, "Hey, to Shadow being the Ultimate Lifeform means being the Ultimate Warrior, and part of being a warrior is never fighting a battle you can't win unless it's to save someone's life. You showed him that you got guts, and a brain, Sweetness. Stick around for a bit, and he'll respect ya!"

"Yeah," Amy puts in. "Don't let him get to you too much!"

Sonic, who no one had noticed leaving, returns with a huge platter of chilidogs, "And now that we know Mr. Emo inside and out, LET'S EAT!"

Angel nods, a small smile on her face "You're right...thank you, guys. I'd like it if Shadow did like me, I'd like us to be friends...but...with his attitude...he doesn't seem like the most friendliest of people." She looks at Sonic "I'm surprised you didn't eat all those yourself" she winks and grins

Sonic grins at her, "Trust me, babe, I could if I wanted to!"

"Watch it," Amy, and Spike both fix him with hard looks.

Once again, Angel raises her eyebrow, "What is it with you guys and "Babe", seriously" She laughs and shakes her head at Amy and Spike "You two are too funny. And way too easy to wind up" She nudges Spike in the ribs playfully.

Cocoa takes the plate from him, and sets it on the table, "Well before anybody else can get hurt, everybody dig in!"

Spike takes one, "Yeah, Shadow isn't that big on the concept of friends, to him the word friend means "Ally". Sad, but true."

Angel takes a chillidog, replying "Well...I'd rather be an Ally than an enemy. But I would like to get through to him that friends are just as good." She takes a bite of her food.

"Well you are one lucky Hedgehog," Spike notes, half his dog already gone. "Maybe you can actually do it."

Angel pauses in eating, "Really? You really think so? Hmm...I might just have a go. I just hope he doesn't chaos spear me or anything...ouch..."

Suddenly Sonic drops out of his chair to the ground, scaring Amy out of her wits.

"Sonikku! What's wrong?!"

Sonic looks up at her with tears in her eyes, "It's... It's... It's perfection!" Sonic stands, and looks at his chilidog reverently, "All these wasted years, and I've finally found the perfect Chilidog!"

Spike gives Sonic a look like he's concerned for his sanity, which he is, "... Wow..."

Angel turns to look at Sonic, giving him a weird look. "...Talk about melodramatic." She smirks, resuming eating

Amy stares at Sonic open-mouthed, and then she grits her teeth. You can almost see fire in her eyes as she summons her hammer. Reave appears to her side, and whispers something in her ear. Her anger evaporates as if someone hit a light-switch, a look of wonder on her face. She puts her hammer away, and shuffles towards Sonic, "Oh Soni-"

She's cut off as Sonic pulls her into a hug, "I'm so sorry Amy, I should've come here with you the first time you asked me." He holds her away from him by her arms, "I promise that we'll come back anytime, k?"

Sonic turns his attention back to his food, but Amy doesn't seem to notice. Her eyes become hearts, and she lets out a fangirl squeal.

Spike facepalms, "Am I really surrounded by Lunatics?"

Reave grins, "We're all wonderfully insane in our own way, Spike."

Angel nods, "He's right. But hey, Insanity isn't all that bad" She giggles, looking at Amy and how easily she gets angry.

Spike finishes his third Chilidog, and picks up a fourth, "Which is why the Joker is the most infamous Batman villain."

Reave raises an eyebrow, "...I suppose..."

Cocoa's ears perk up in surprise, "Hey I just noticed something! I'm sorry if this comes across the wrong way, but Angel, and Spike are named after Buffy characters!"

"Wut?" Sonic says around a mouthful of food.

"You know, Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Buffy's true love was vampire with a soul named Angel, and years before that he made a vampire named Spike!"

Spike snaps his fingers, "Oh yeah, now I remember what you're talking about! I liked the spinoff show "Angel" better than Buffy, and I only picked Spike as my nickname because I thought it sounded cooler than my real one."

Angel grins "Ohmygosh! Cocoa! You're right, that is so cool! I love that show too. Wait..."Spike" isn't your real name?" She looks him in surprise. "What is your real name?"

Spike chokes on a bit of food, and a blush comes to his face. He clears his throat, "Um... Well... Please don't laugh, but it's... Thorn."

Spike groans, "Mom, and Dad thought it was a clever name. Honestly, "Thorn Rose"? What the heck?!"

Angel bites her lip in an attempt to not laugh "Oh...that's..." She suddenly bursts out in a fit of giggles "I'm so sorry...but that is hilarious! I do prefer "Spike" though...it's so much cooler" She grins, and laughs yet again.

Spike smashes his head into the table causing everyone to jump.

Amy frowns at him, "Do you really have to pitch a fit over someone knowing your real name?"

Spike turns his head on the table to give her a hard look, "Don't start with me, Amellia."

"Hey!" Amy blushes as Spike says her real name, "That is so... so..."

Spike's eyes widen the slightest bit, "...Oh-"

Amy jumps over the table, and brings her hammer down on where he sits. Spike rolls out of the way just in time, and summons his sword.

The siblings narrow their eyes at one another, and begin to pace a circle off to the side of the table.

"Uh...guys...is this really necessary?" Angel asks, watching the siblings glare at each other. "Seriously," She smirks, suddenly getting an idea, but knows it will be risky. "Amelia...Thorn...sit down and finish eating...THEN you can beat each other up to your hearts' content" She says teasingly, a mischevious glint in her eye.

Amy lunges at Spike, bringing her hammer down hard. Spike presses a hand to the back of his blade, and holds off her attack with sheer strength. He puts a foot on her midsection, and shoves hard, not wanting to actually hurt her. Amy stumbles back, and swings at him Baseball-style.

Spike rolls under the attack, and backpedals away from her. He digs the point of his blade into the ground, and charges at her. A flash of metal later, Amy's hammer is sent flying, and Spike pushes her away again with a shove to her back.

Amy whirls with a growl, her hammer reappearing in her hand.

Angel sighs "How long are they going to keep this up for? Those weapons take Sibling Fighting to the next level..."

Reave looks on with interest, "It will go on until someone stops it, or one of them tires out, most likely Amy. Spike seems intent on not hurting her." Reave puts his arms around Cocoa's waist as she sits in his lap, "That's always been the difference between those two, they are both easily provoked, but Spike has more control of his anger."

As if to prove his point, Spike goes on the offensive, but only targets Amy's hammer. He uses the back of his blade so he does not risk cutting her should he misplace a strike.

Angel rolls her eyes "Oh great...I guess we'll be stuck with this for a while. Can't you stop them, Reave?"

Reave raises an eyebrow at her, "Can I? Yes I can. Should I? Probably. Will I? Probably not." He gives her a sly grin, "I'm quite happy where I am right now." He pats Cocoa's leg, making her blush, and give him a light smack to the back of his head.

Meanwhile the two combatants aren't even paying attention to those at the table. Amy spins like a top with her hammer leaving a trails of pink hearts in its wake, and Spike hops over the strike, taking the time to bounce off her head before going into a backflip.

Angel facepalms "Well...thank you for that, Reave. That was very helpful...Looks like we're just gonna have to wait them out...but this is getting annoying." She stares up at the sky.

Cocoa squeals as Reave starts tickeling her, and then he says, "Since you're the only one with a peoblem with it, why are you asking us to do something about it? You're not incapable, as you demonstrated earlier."

Sonic is actually cheering them on right now, looking for the all world like a sports fan with a chilidog in hand. Amy flips towards Spike, hammer cracking the cement after he doges it. He knocks her feet out from under her, but is careful to make sure her head doesn't hit the ground. She jumps up with a growl, and lunges at him again.

Angel sighs, "I don't have a problem with it. What those two do is none of my business, I just don't want something to get destroyed...or anyone to get hurt for that matter...How long do these fights usually last for anyways?"

Cocoa manages to capture Reave's wrists in her hands, tears in her eyes. Reave shrugs, "Before we met Shadow during the epidemic they hadn't seen each other for over five years. She did pummel him when they met on her doorstep, but then again he wasn't fighting back then."

"Yeah!" Sonic pumps a fist in the air, "Get 'em Ames!"

Amy whacks a garbage can at Spike, who in turn cuts it in half. As the halves part around him, Amy strikes again. Spike barely brings his sword up in time to block it.

"Oh...well, Sonic sure is enjoying himself." She rolls her eyes, "GUYS! Will you PLEASE cease your fighting! It's incredibly annoying!" Angel shouts, trying to capture the fighting pair's attention,

Sonic cups his hands around his mouth, "You better listen to your girlfriend, Spike!"

Spike turns sharply to him, "SAY WHAT?!"

Amy takes this opportunity to smash her hammer into the bottom of Spike's jaw, and sends him flying into a garbage can. His sword vanishes in a whiff of black smoke as he lands in heap across the food court.

Angel glares at Sonic, then grimaces when Spike lands on the ground. "...Ouch...that has to be hurting...Damn Amy, you have one hell of a swing, girl!"

Amy giggles, and puts away her hammer, "Thanks, I've had lots of practice!"

Spike groans as he sits up. He gives Sonic a hateful look, and storms off. Sonic gives the others a confused look, "What did I do?"

Reave looks genuinely concerned as he stares off in the direction Spike took.

Angel smirks "Yeah...I bet you have." She, too, looks in the direction Spike went "Is he okay? Does that usually happen? What's with the look he gave Sonic, too?" She frowns

Reave tilts his head, "I've known Spike for a long time, so I know him better than most... But in this case, I'm... not sure."

Sonic lets out a belch, and pats his belly, "Well since it looks like I'm the one he's mad at, maybe I should go talk to him."

Reave shakes his head, "That would be unwise, Sonic. I don't think he's upset that he lost, that's never mattered to him before. So it has to be something else... But what?"

Angel frowns "Maybe you should go talk to him, Reave, seeing as you know him so well. He's bound to tell you...isn't he?"

Reave mulls it over, "I can try, but I'll admit now that there are things Spike has never told me about himself. He may not speak with me... But I might as well try, he was my first loyal friend after all." He sets Cocoa down in a chair next to him, and pecks her on the cheek before jogging after Spike.

Angel nods "Right, well, good luck. He doesn't seem like the type to openly admit things..."

Cocoa, "I'm not so sure, Angel. Spike seems like... the kind of guy who's TOO open, y'know? For him to clam up like this, I think it goes without saying that something really rubbed him the wrong way this time.

"Yeah, you're right, Cocoa...I guess we'll find out from Reave...that is, IF he can find out himself."

A few minutes pass, and Sonic is getting bored. He's had his fill of the "Perfect Chilidogs", and he now wants to go on a run to work off the food. Amy keeps him planted in the chair by reminding him that it's partially his fault Spike is upset.

Reave walks back to them, and sits at the table, he looks troubled.

"... He won't talk to me. He's so strung up on his anger, I'm surprised he didn't take a swing at me."

Angel sighs "Well...now what? Amy? Can't you try? You're his sister...I wonder what has him so riled up..."

Amy hops up immediately, "Okay! Sonikku please wait here!" She takes off, and quickly disappears.

A few minutes later she returns open-mouthed.

"That... cannot... be... my brother! How can such a sweet, innocent girl like me have a brother like that?!" Amy takes her seat, and tears start forming in her eyes.

Cocoa leans across the table, "What happened?"

Amy sniffles, "He... He told me that I shouldn't... pretend to care... That I should just... leave him alone... since I already have everything that I care about... That look he gave me was so..." She trails off as she starts crying into her hands.

Sonic looks appalled, "Okay, that's where I draw the line." He gets up, and speeds off. He comes back a few minutes later with a little less fur on his quills, a few bloody grazes on his cheek, and a black eye.

"Okay," Sonic takes a few napkins to clean himself up. "That could have gone a little better."

Angel is taken aback "What is his problem?! Why does he keep hurting people. What do we do? Or do we just leave him to calm down...?"

Cocoa looks at the three who tried already, "Maybe we should give him some space for now, and try talking to him about it later?"

Reave nods thoughtfully, "That's our wisest course of action..."

Amy rubs her eyes, "I'm sorry guys, but I feel like going home."

Cocoa nods, "It's okay, Amy. We'll stay behind, and make sure Spike has a ride home."

Amy nods, and she leaves with Sonic. The blue speedster looks over his shoulder to give them a thumbs-up, and then speeds off with Amy in his arms.

"How long do we wait for? I mean, I don't know what time the park closes, and we can't stay here forever. He has to come out at some point...right?" Angel asks the other two, resting her head on the table.

Reave sighs, "Twinkle Park is always open, kind of a polocy of theirs. I would recomend we give him fifteen minutes, and then go after him."

Cocoa sighs, "Jeez, just what in the name of Chaos has gotten into him? He's usually so happy, and outgoing, just like Amy! I've never seen him SULK before."

"I have, over the tiniest of things, but he usually quickly forgets about them. This..."

"Hey everybody!"

They all turn to see Rouge walking over to them, Shadow close behind her.

"Rouge!" Cocoa gets up, and hugs her senior agent.

Rouge briefly returns the hug, "Hey Cocoa, rough night? Sonic called us from Amy's house, and told us that Spike is throwing a temper tantrum. What crawled up Captain Bedsheet's ass, and died, huh?"

Cocoa snorts a laugh at the nickname, and Reave shrugs, "We're not entirely sure."

Angel looks at Rouge, "That's what we're trying to find out...but everyone who keeps checking on him gets hurt. Seriously...Sonic came back with a black eye. Reave says to give him some more time, then to go after him...but I don't know if we'd get out alive..." She grimaces.

Shadow crosses his arms, "Would anyone like to explain exactly what the hell happened?"

"Watch it, handsome," Rouge grins at him. "We're in public, so we have to at least try to act civilized."

Shadow gives her a hard look, "I'm not civilized?"

"Nope," Rouge giggles.

"Just making sure we're on the same page."

"Spike and Amy were fighting, then Sonic makes a comment and distracted Spike, so Amy's hit got him. Then he gives Sonic a look and storms off...it was weird." Angel tells Shadow and Rouge, frowning, and hoping maybe they can make sense of it.

Shadow sighs, "I need details, Angel. What were they fighting about, and what was the comment?"

"Well, it all started when Spike called Amy her full name, then the fight began. After a while, I asked them to stop, but Sonic's smart mouth told him he "Better listen to his girlfriend" then he just stormed off." Angel told him

Rouge's eyes widen, and her ears twitch, "Oh-ho! Is that what he's so worked up about?" Rouge starts laughing, and Shadow shakes his head in annoyance.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Shadow uncrosses his arms.

"he went that way," Reave points. "Fair warning, he won't even talk to me."

"Thanks for the warning," Shadow heads off in the direction Reav pointed out.

Rouge wipes a tear from her eye, "Oh this we have got to see!" She puls Angel out of her chair, and takes off into the air, hold Angel by her wrists. Below, Shadow is skating through the crowds, and beside Rouge is Cocoa with Reave hanging from her arms.

"Wh-what? Why? Shouldn't we give them privacy, Rouge? I mean, why do we have to be there?" Angel asks, a little confused. "Why are you making a big deal out of this?"

Rouge winks at her, "Trust me, Honey, this is a show you can NOT afford to miss."

Shadow stops skating, and starts walking again. The others land on a nearby rooftop, and watch as Shadow approaches Spike. The Ash hedgehog is leaning on a rail, watching couples play some kind of carnaval ride that's like bumper cars, but in boats.

"Spike."

Spike turns his head sharply at the sound of his name, and glowers at the speaker. Seeing that it's Shadow he raises an eyebrow.

"Huh, so they called you for back-up? I never woulda pegged you as the kind of guy to stick his nose in other people's business."

Shadow ignores the harsh tone of his voice, "You live on my ship, that makes you my solider. And if something happens to make my soldiers work at less than peak performance, then it becomes my business."

They stare at each other quietly for a few seconds, and then Spike turns away, "We both know that you'd rather not be here, so why not get lost?"

Shadow's ear twitches, but he holds back a retort, and crosses his arms, "You're waiting for her to show up, right? You'd rather it be Angel here talking to you."

Spike clenches his fists, and tries to ignore Shadow. Shadow fixes his eyes on the back of Spike's head, "You should just tell her."

Spike narrows his eyes at Shadow from over his shoulder, "Tell her what?"

"That you like her."

Spike splutters, and turns his whole body to face Shadow, "What the-?! I..." Spike looks Shadow in the eye, and then sighs, "Easy for you to say! Baby sis told me all about Maria, Shadow. The only kind of love you've ever known is the kind shared by friends, and family. This... I don't even know if it IS love! You don't know anything about this, so don't bother lecturing me."

Shadow scowls, "Perhaps you're right, but even someone who "doesn't know anything about this" knows that nothing happens if nothing is done. It's a gamble, and if you lose it will hurt, but at least you'll walk away a little wiser."

Spike blinks, and looks at the ground. He throws out his arms, exasperated, "So how do I even tell her that I like her?"

"Do I look like your mother?" Shadow rolls his eyes, "You need to figure that out for yourself, it's not my problem."

Spike cocks his head with a grin, "Actually you kinda do. Mama was a red hedgehog, so those stripes-"

"Shut up," Shadow fixes him with a glare before turning away. "And make sure you apologize to the others, or I'll break every bone in your body."

"Again?" Spike raises an eyebrow.

"Again," Shadow confirms, and walks away.

Whilst on the rooftop, Angel sees Shadow and Spike making various hand gestures, and she wonders what they are talking about. "Well, he seems to be opening up to Shadow, of all people! And he hasn't made to hit him yet...which is good... I think." She sees Shadow walking away. "Well...I guess that's it...I mean, he seems to have calmed down a little. Should we go ask Shadow what was wrong with him?" She asks.

Rouge looks smirks, "No need, Honey." She takes a device out of her pocket, "A long while back Shadow had each of us get in the habit of wearing tiny microphones that constant record what's going on around us, just in case one of us got captured. In other words, we got their entire conversation on tape, for those who lack extraordinary hearing." Rouge grins, and twitches her ears. She holds the device up to Angel's ear, and replays the conversation for her.

Angel listens intently, her eyes widening as the conversation finishes, and a deep blush stains her cheeks. "I...he...he admitted everything to Shadow..." She looks at Rouge, "I don't understand...why did he storm off after giving Sonic a hateful look?"

Rouge rolls her eyes, "Well, I'm just guessing here, but I think he was embarrassed."

Cocoa sits on Angel's other side, "Think about it Angel, if Spike really does like you, and Sonic goes making jokes about it, even without realizing it, imagine how he might feel. How would you have felt in his position?"

Angel grimaces, "Yeah...I guess I would have felt pretty bad too..."

Reave raises an eyebrow, "So that's what Spike was angry about? A crush on Angel?" His face softens, "I'm appreciating the irony here, what from your little matchmaking session from earlier, Angel."

She gives a light laugh "Hm, so am I, Reave. So am I. I don't understand how I didn't notice...but I guess if you're not looking for something then you don't see it."

Reave stands up, and stretches, "If you're going to reject him Angel, please do it gently. I won't hold it against you, and I don't think he will either. I will admit though, it's nice having you around." Reave turns to the others, "We should head back to the food court. Angel, would you like to stay here, and catch up with us later?"

Angel thinks and nods "Okay, would somebody mind helping me down first?" She asks sheepishly. "I better go to talk to him..."

Rouge floats Angel off the rooftop, and around the corner where Spike doesn't notice them. Rouge gives Angel a wink before taking off with Reave, and Cocoa to the food court.

Angel gulps, and takes a deep breath, suddenly feeling nervous. She walks around the corner and sees Spike. "Uhm...H-hi...i-is everything okay?"

Spike, who was back to watching the Bumper-Boats, turns at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, hey Angel..." Spike hopes the shadows are hiding the blush he feels creeping along his muzzle. "Yeah, I guess so... I calmed down..." He gives a short, nervous laugh, and grins awkwardly, "Did, um... Did Shadow send you?"

Angel grins, "Um...not exactly. Rouge...uh...well, never mind. It's nice to see you're okay now, and that you won't hit me like you did with Sonic." She smirks. "You must have been pretty angry to hurt him, Amy too."

Spike does a double-take, "Hit you?! Wow..." Spike rubs the back of his head, and takes a breath, "Angel, I can't hit girls, least of all... you... I went at it with Sonic because he attacked me first, not that it makes it right, I know..." Spike sighs, "I'm sorry for freaking like that, I didn't mean to scare you. I just... needed to think."

Angel smiles "It's fine...Sonic's comment really riled you, huh? Why did you let your anger take control, he was just messing around. Don't let him get to you." She goes to stand beside him.

Spike sighs, "You're right, he's just an idiot that saved to world a few too many times, and let it go to his head. I'm appalled that I let him get to me like that." Spike give a playful grin, "But I might have taken him down a notch, or two. If you'll notice, I don't have a scratch on me!" He's right, he doesn't.

Angel rolls her eyes playfully "Well, at least one of you wasn't hurt. But you did the right thing of walking away to cool down, Sonic shouldn't have charged in there like that. It was obvious someone would have bruises."

"And cuts," Spike eyes the namesakes on his knuckles guiltily. "He's lucky I caught him in the eye with the bottom of my sword hilt, and not a fist. If I had he'd be half-blind, and Baby Sis would've disowned me."

Spike lets out a breath that's half a sigh, and half a laugh, "If only dad could've seen it, he would've been so proud of me for handing an Alpha Hedgehog like Sonic his ass the way I did." He suddenly grimaces, "Though mama would've killed me for talking to Amy like that, yikes!"

Angel laughs, "Yeah, well, bottom line, no one is seriously hurt...thank god. Though I'm sure those fists of your sure do come in handy with a bunch of enemies."

Spike shrugs, "Meh, kinda. I prefer my sword, but when in battle one of the last things they expect is to get punched with the sword hand." He taps a finger on one of his spikes, "But really, they're mostly for show. Badass, and practical at the same time."

He glances up, and meets her eyes for the first time since she came to find him, "... So... What's happening with the others? Is it safe to come back, and apologize yet?"

"Well, Sonic and Amy have gone home, so you might have to wait until tomorrow. But the others are still here, if you want to come back..." She says, smiling slightly.

Spike thinks to himself, mostly about his earlier conversation with Shadow. He had a point when he said that if nothing was done nothing would happen, but that wasn't much help. Does he care a lot about Angel? Yes, he does. Romantically? ...Yeah. Does he want to tell her? ...Yup. How should he tell her?

He comes up blank on that one. He decides to let fate help him out here; just act, and let what happens happen.

"I don't know," Spike says, looking away. "Maybe I should talk to them later about it. I'm grateful that you aren't mad at me for being a dick to your new friends, but they may want a little more time."

Angel smirks and shakes her head "Of course I'm not mad, I get that you were angry. We all do things on impulse. relax." She nods and shrugs. "Okay then, why not do it tomorrow? Give everyone a chance to have a good night's sleep. It's been a pretty hectic day."

"Yeah," Spike looks up at the stars. "So... What do you wanna do now? Probably something that will keep your feet on the ground." He gives her a wicked smirk, his shoulders shaking slightly with laughter.

Angel glares playfully "Hm, it's up to you...anything but that rollercoaster...that was horrible. Never again!" She suddenly yawns, "Are you not getting tired, it's getting pretty late..."

Spike blinks, she's right about that. Then again he doesn't ever really feel tired. As Reave puts it he simply... drops.

"Alright, we should probably leave. We can always come back another time, cute couples get in free after all." As the words leave his lips, he tries not to let her notice that he's watching for her reaction.

Angel grins and laughs "Yup, I guess so...next time I fancy coming here I'll be sure to bring you with me" She winks. "If you aren't tired, we don't have to leave. I wonder if the others are tired too."

Spike blinks, that was a far better reaction than he was hoping for. Maybe he has a real chance at this.

Again Spike shrugs, "Well if you're up for it there are a few of the slower rides to be explored, and we have unused tickets left. No roller-coasters, promise!" He gives her a warm smile, and pulls out a map to the park.

His eyes widen slightly, "Hey this park really does have everything! There's a movie theatre not too far from here." He looks up at her, "Wanna go see what's playing?"

Angel nods eagerly "Sure! I love movies! But...what about the others?"

Spike licks his lips, "Well I was planning on giving them more time to cool off... But I guess it would be fair to let them know I'm myself again at least."

He pulls a black cellphone out of his pocket, and hits speed-dial. After a moment he says, "Hey Reave... Yeah, sorry man, I wasn't wanting to bite your head of like that... Haha, yeah! So, uh, Angel, and I are gonna check out the movie theatre, and we were wondering if you guys wanted to-"

He's cut off by a voice shouting from the speakers in his ear that sounds suspiciously like Rouge. Spike holds the phone away from his ear with a wince, and waits for the tyrade to subside. When it does he carefully puts it back to his ear.

"... Hello? ... Hello?" Spike sighs, and disconnects. "I'm guessing that's a 'no' Angel."

Angel frowns "What the hell was that about? Are they fighting now? Rouge shouldn't have done that, what if Cocoa or someone wanted to go?!" She sighs, "Well, they know where we are, I guess they'll catch up if they want to."

Spike chuckles, "Rouge was yelling at me, something about being a record holder as the planet's worst idiot, or something along those lines."

Spike shrugs, "You're right, if they want to come they'll know where to find us. Shall we?" Spike puts one hand in a pocket, and holds out the other to Angel.

"Planet's worst idiot? Hm, ignore her." Angel rolls her eyes and places her hand in Spike's, blushing a little. They set off towards the theatre.

Spike follows the map, and pretty soon they're standing in front of a huge building. Heading in they're assaulted by the sights, and smells of the main lobby.

Spike looks at the list of films, none of which really interest him, except...

"Hey Sweetness," Spike turns to Angel. "Just how big of a Vampire fan are you?"

**(AN: NOT TWILIGHT, I PROMISE!)**

Angel smirks, "Pretty big, I'd say. I do love a good horror film. What about you? Or are you too chicken to handle it?" She taunts and laughs, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Spike raises an eyebrow, "Is that a dare?" He puts an arm around her shoulders, and steers her to the ticket counter.

"Hi," he smiles at the cashier. "Two tickets for "30 Days of Night" please."

"Sure thing..." The fox behind the counter stares at them with wide eyes. "Spike?!"

Spike blinks, "Tails?! What are you doing working here? Last I checked you were filthy rich making do-dads for the military."

Tails sighs, "Well I guess I kinda got a case of Inventor's Block, I've run out of ideas."

"Did you manage to recreate Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver yet?"

"I did that years ago," Tails turns his eyes to Angel, and notices Spike's arm. "Oh, hello! Are you Spike's girlfriend?"

Spike hurriedly retracts his arm with a blush, "This, uh, this is Angel. Angel, meet Miles "Tails" Prower. Everybody just calls him Tails though."

"For obvious reasons," Tails smirks as he wags his two tails for her to see.

Angel smiles at Tails, "Aww! How cute! It's so awesome that you have two tails!" She grins, "It's nice to meet you, are you friends with the others too?"

"Yeah," Tails pulls out their tickets. "Sonic, and I have been best friends since we were little. Not a lot of people thought it was cute, a lot of kids like to mess with "freaks", so I was pretty much on my own before I met him. Now we're practically brothers!"

Angel frowns "That's...that's terrible. I hate bullies, I'd have pounded them into next week!" She hits her hand with a fist, as if to demonstrate.

"Then I got some good news," Spike grins. "With a little luck we might become brother-in-laws, you and I."

Tails blinks, and then he snorts, "So Amy finally convinced Sonic to come here with her? How did that happen?"

Angel laughs at Tails "It was kinda inadvertent, but it was all Spike's fault. He was lured with chillidogs" She rolls her eyes.

Tails laughs as Spike raises an eyebrow. He about to say something when Tails cuts him off.

"Okay guys, it's been fun talking, but I'm on the clock. Tickets are on me tonight, so enjoy!" He passes them their tickets, and moves on to the next person in line.

"It's always nice to meet friends like that," Spike nods to himself. "About the movie, I've never seen it, but I'm told that it's the scariest vampire movie ever made."

Angel's eyes light up, "Oh good, I've never seen it either, but I do love scary films...even if I get scared" She laughs "But don't worry Spike, if you daren't stay for the whole movie, you don't have to" She winks playfully.

Spike stops walking, and gives her a serious yet amused look, "Sweetness, I faced certain death at the hands of a couple hundred Zombies in real life, and you think I'm going to be afraid of a vampire movie?" Spike chuckles, and just can't seem to stop. He hugs her, and kisses her on the forehead.

Angel blushes, suddenly remembering the conversation with Shadow that she listened in to. "W-we should go in now..." She breaks away, cheeks red, and walks towards the room in which the movie is being shown.

Behind her back Spike grins, revenge is sweet.

"And so is she," He thinks to himself.

He stops long enough to get a huge paper bucket of popcorn, and a couple of large Cokes before following after her. He looks around, but can't seem to spot her.

Meanwhile, Angel is stood staring at a guy, a tall, white fox, who is talking to a girl. She sighs and frowns, mumbling "What the hell is he doing here, of all damn places." She leans against the wall and closes her eyes, wondering where Spike is, and if she should go find him.

"Thank you," Spike nods to the helpful couple of cats, and heads off in the direction they said Angel went. As he approaches her from behind he notices her staring intently at an unfamiliar fox.

He creeps up behind her, and whispers in her ear, "Whatcha thinking so loud about?"

Angel jumps, and whips around to see Spike. "Uhm...it's..." She shakes her head and sighs, "It's nothing, come on, let's get to that movie." She replies, glancing at the fox.

Spike follows her glance, and makes a mental note think about it later. h shrugs, and offer her one of the cups, "I hope you don't mind, but I got you a Coke."

Angel takes the cup and smiles, "Thank you, but, should you really be having sugar?" She smirks

"If I try, I will not go berserk," Spike rolls his eyes. "Now which way is the room again?" He looks back, and forth.

"Oh good, because I don't want another episode of earlier" She sticks her tongue out at him, then brushes past. "It's this way, I think. C'mon, before we're late."

"I'm coming, keep your shirt on," He laughs, casting a final glance over his shoulder at the stranger fox. The fox is still talking to the girl, but Spike is not liking how his eyes are fixed on Angel's retreating back.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter Four_**

"Well, hurry up will ya! I want to get good seats!" She says to Spike, excited for the movie. They approach the room and go in, with a few minutes to spare.

As the movie begins with a lone man in the tundra staring at the sea with a ship, Spike can't pass this up.

"Barrow Alaska," He intones. "Where temperatures range from "Cold as Shit" to "Fucking Freezing" all year 'round."

He chuckles, and offers Angel some popcorn.

Angel grins and shakes her head, taking a handful of popcorn from Spike. "You've seen this film before?" She asks.

Spike shakes his head, "Nah, but there was a comic book of it I found in a dumpster once. It was missing the second half though, so I have no idea how this is supposed to end." A couple of couples Shush him nearby, and he whispers, "Yeah Sweetness, shush!"

Angel elbows him, and whispers "You shush! You started this!" She grabs more popcorn, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," he quietly challenges. "And your point is w- YIPE!"

His voice raises a few octaves as he fumbles with a hand behind his head. When he looks in his hand he sees a slightly melted ice-cube that he pulled out of the back of his shirt.

He looks over his shoulder to find the offender, but there's no one sitting behind them.

Angel quickly claps her hands over her mouth, desperate to keep herself from laughing. "Oh my

Spike, being thoroughly cowed, says nothing, and goes back to the movie. They're quiet, snaking on popcorn, and sipping drinks. Spike suddenly has an idea... a very mean idea...

As one of the humans is suddenly grabbed, and dragged out of sight faster than anyone can blink, Spike grabs Angel's arm.

Angel is quietly watching the movie, when all of a sudden, something grabs her arm. Startled, she lets out a high pitched scream, disturbing everyone in the room. "OHMYGOD SOMEONE HELP!" She yells, frantically waving her free arm.

Spike almost drops out of his seat, as he tries not to laugh his head off. He lets go of her arm, and puts both hands over his mouth, eyes bulging with contained laughter. A few people nearby laugh too, but most of them shut up after being elbowed by people next to them.

Spike comes out of his fit, and sits up in his chair, "I'm sorry, but... the LOOK on your FACE!" He shakes his head, chuckling.

Angel blushes after noticing people looking, then she glares at Spike. "Oh, thank you for that. I swear, if we get kicked out, you'll regret that." She shakes her head after regaining her composure, and throws a handful of popcorn at him, smirking.

"Aww, I'm sorry," he gives her a pair of Puppy-Dog eyes reminiscing of his sister's. For those who don't know, Amy's Puppy-Face is the only force on earth more dangerous than her hammer, and has always been known to stop Sonic in his tracks.

Angel smiles softly "Hey, it's fine. But try not to get carried away...there are others here who want to watch." She sticks her tongue out.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that thing in my mouth either," he quips, and turns back to the screen with a grin. He crosses his leg, and folds his hands behind his head.

Angel gapes, "Wha..." She hits the back of his head and rolls her eyes, returning to watching the film.

The rest of the film goes pretty much without incident. Spike's jaw drops when Eben, the main character, injects himself with Vampire blood to save the others. He sighs sadly when the movie ends with Eben turning into ash as the sun comes up.

"And in the arms of a loved one too," Spike mumbles. He joins the audience in applause for the movie.

The lights come back on, and people gather their things and start to leave. Angel yawns and stretches "Well, that was pretty good, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Spike dumps their trash in a garbage can. "I actually liked the morals in this movie. That there aren't always happy endings, and you should always be ready to kill some vampires."

Spike walks back to Angel, his mind going a mile a minute. True, there aren't always happy endings, but where Angel is concerned... He can hope, right?

"So are you ready to call it a day?" Spike tilts his head at her, "If you pass out I won't mind carryining you."

Angel laughs, "That's very sweet of you, but I'm sure I can make it home without falling asleep." Suddenly, the white fox from earlier walks out of the room next door. Angel frowns, "Actually...let's go now..."

"On the road again!" Spike sings, wrapping an arm around her back, oblivious to the fox. "Sing it with me Angel!"

Angel suddenly becomes frantic, "Spike, can we please just go, I don't want to sing." She replies, trying to push him to the door, and glancing around, catching eyes with the fox.

Spike becomes puzzled, but takes her hand as they leave at a brisk pace. All humor is replaced by a real concern for his friend, "What's the matter, Sweetness? Are you feeling okay?"

Angel is shaking slightly, "No...I mean...yeah, I'm fine. Please, let's just go find the others...Like, now!" She pulls away from Spike, walking as fast as she can away from the place. She suddenly walks into something hard. Going to apologize, she looks up, and wishes she hadn't.

Spike scratches his head, "Well I think the others have already left so-" He sees Angel's face, "Angel?"

Angel doesn't reply, instead staring wide eyed at the person she just bumped into...the white fox from before. There is a moments silence, as the two stare each other down. Angel suddenly punches him, looking angry, and he staggers backwards. Before any words can be exchanged, she continues to walk away, faster than before.

Spike jumps, head whipping between the two of them, "What the- HEY WAIT FOR ME!"

He dashes after her, and soon catches up, "Okay, that can officially go into the top 10 strangest things I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot!"

Angel suddenly stops walking, "I...I'm sorry...I just, I needed to..." She takes a shaky breath end exhales, and she suddenly feels a few tears slipping down her cheeks. She looks at Spike, "What did you say about the others? Are they still here?" She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand.

Spike looks back, and forth before leading her to a deserted corner of the park between a seasonally closed haunted house, and a gift shop.

"Angel," he sighs. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I noticed back at the theatre that that guy bothered you for some reason. It's probably none of my business, but if you need to talk about it I'm right here. Okay?"

His eyes are soft as he takes in the faint tear marks on her cheeks, and fresh one building in her eyes again.

Angel nods "Th-thank you..." She hugs him tightly "It's just...hard to talk about...I hate letting things bother me so much" She whispers.

Spike returns her hug, and rubs her back; Something his mom used to do to help him relax.

"I understand, Angel. It's okay."

He decides to try, and lighten the mood. He takes her by the shoulders, and tries his best to look her seriously in the eyes. "More importantly, young lady," he says in a deep pompous tone. "It's very unladylike to deck someone like that in public. You should have told me, and I would have been glad to do it for you."

He turns his nose up in the air with a "Hmph", but he can't stop a grin from reaching his lips.

Angel grins, her mood lightening considerably "Yeah, well, he deserves it, trust me. It was well overdue. And besides, I'm not the kind of girl who has guys fight battles for her, as much as I appreciate it." She examines her knuckles, wincing at the cuts.

Spike roots around in his quills again, "Dang it Reave, you said you only wanted to BORROW the band-aids!" He turns, realizing that there's a store right next to him.

"Lucky they had a first-aid kit," Spike comments as he puts a few band-aids on Angel's knuckles.

He looks up at her when he's finished, "Again, I know it's probably none of my business, but I'm curious. Who was that fox, and why did you punch him? You don't have to tell me."

Angel tenses and frowns "He...he's just someone I know. He used to date my best friend, but he cheated on her, and I found out. They broke up and he knew I told her. Ever since, he and his buddies have dedicated their lives to making mine hell. Trust me, I'd do more than punch him...he's...really not a nice guy."

Spike frowns, he'd met too many jerks like that while on the streets with Reave, most of which were convinced they were pimps. Reave could usually just get them to leave the two of them alone with just a few non-threatening words, but this is a case Spike is sure even he would have trouble with. Part of Spike wants to go find these jerks, and make them miserable; but another part reminds him that the last time he got angry Angel was afraid he was going to hit her. Violence seems to be the wrong approach here.

Spike suddenly has an idea, one that doesn't sit with him well at all. If this doesn't work...

"Angel... I... um..." He stares at the ground, trying to find the right way to voice his thoughts.

She turns to look at Spike, "What's wrong? Is everything okay?" She asks, feeling a little uneasy.

Spike licks his lips, and turns his face up to her, "I... Really, I..." He sighs, and decides to just spit it out, "I like you Angel... a lot... I mean, I know we only met today, but there's just something about you..."

He meets her eyes, "I won't let them bother you anymore, I promise. You could even move onto the Egg-Carrier with the rest of us, Reave could help me talk Shadow into it, I'm sure of it."

Spike turns his head down at his folded hands in his lap, and closes his eyes. He'd said it, and now all he can do is wait.

Angel blushes, "Spike I...I kinda already know..." She bites her lip "Rouge insisted we follow you, and she told me to listen in through this little device everyone is supposed to carry...I...I heard everything."

Spike jerks his gaze upwards, and his expression is one of disbelief. He doesn't know weither to feel relieved that she's know all this time, or angry at Rouge.

_Wait a minute_, he thinks in his head. _So... she knew ever since my talk with Shadow? Then... when I put an arm around her... and kissed her head... never once did she reject me... Then there's still hope, right?_

Out loud he says, "Oh... well... that makes things easier, I guess..."

He rubs his neck bashfully, "Um... I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable..."

The purple hedgehog smiles slightly "It's fine...but like you said, it's only been a day...are you sure you feel this way?" She frowns "And I appreciate your help with...that guy...but I don't want to drag you into this. It's my mess...I have to sort it out, it wouldn't be fair. I don't want them hurting you too..."

Spike grins sheepishly, "Well, like I told Shadow, don't know if I'd call it love... but I do know that I'd like to find out."

Trying to shake off his embarrassment, he says, "And as for the Ghost of Jerks Past back there; hardly a day goes by where I don't get knocked around by the Ultimate Lifeform, what's the worst fox boy back there could do?"

Angel is shocked "That's...very sweet of you...and as for what he could do..." She sighs sadly "...Everything he and his pals did to me. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that...especially not someone I care about..." She looks away, a prominent blush on her cheeks.

Something lifts in Spike's chest, she just admitted that she cares about him too, and if the blush is any indication...

Spike stands up in front of her with his hands on his hips, a small grin on his face, "Sorry Sweetness, but if they wanna get to you they gotta go through me first!"

Angel gives a solemn smile, "Spike, as much as I appreciate it, I'm not letting you fight for me. I'd never forgive myself if they hurt you, it's not fair of me! I can..." she sighs "I can fight my own battles..."

_"Not against all of them, though..."_ she thinks, leaving that part out deliberately.

Spike shrugs, and slips an arm around her shoulders, "I can respect that, so how would you feel if I fight _beside_ you? Besides, the warrior princess thing is kinda hot in my opinion."

Angel thinks, "I...guess that's better. But...it's not so simple. I have to constantly watch my back, and I...I have trust issues. What they've done… what they did...was...it was terrible, nobody should have to go through it. I thought I was strong enough...but clearly not. Like I said, I appreciate your offer, but maybe it's better if I just deal with it myself. I mean… I'm doing okay now...I have my weapons, I can fight...I'm no longer defenseless."

She then realizes what Spike added on, and raises an eyebrow. "Do you say that to all the girls who can fight for themselves?" She smirks, shaking her head.

Spike shakes his head, "Nope, just you."

He looks her in the eye, "Angel, I want you to know that even if you don't want a relationship, you're not talking me out of helping you. You're my friend, and where I come from friends stick together."

She smirks, "Gosh...you're so stubborn! But...thank you. It's nice to have real friends for once..." She smiles, her eyes lighting up.

Spike tightens his arm around her, remembering the few years before he'd met Reave. He'd CHOSEN to be alone; it had made him bitter, and hateful. An idea comes to him then.

"I know what you mean. Hey, want me to tell you how I met Reave on our way out?"

Angel shrugs "Why not, go ahead."

Spike gently takes her hand and they head for the park entrance... Which is on the opposite side of the park.

"Well, about eight years ago I ran away from home, and spent three of those years on my own. I got a lot of opportunities to get good with my sword, so many jerks deserving a good thrashing. I was not a happy camper back then. Then one day something I never expected happened, some random stranger decided to help me!"

FLASHBACK

Spike sits on the ground, a little banged up, but not too worse for wear. Reave walks up to Spike, no emotion showing on his face. He kneels next to Spike , and opens a bag in his fist. He gives Spike a breakfast burrito, and uses a bottle of liquid bandage to close a cut on the hedgehog's forehead.

Spike eyes the cat curiously, "Why are you doing this?"

Reave raises an eyebrow, "You don't think someone can help someone just because they feel like it?"

"No."

"Well I just did, so there," Reave gives Spike a kind smile, and walks away.

Spike glances at the burrito in his hand before grabbing the bag, and following after.

END FLASHBACK

"After that I just stuck with him, but he never asked me why I was following him. At first it was because of free food, but we eventually became pretty close buds. And the rest, they say, is history."

Angel is quiet "Wow...that was very nice of Reave to do that. But why did you run away?" She frowns

"My dad," Spike says with a groan. "Remember that "Alpha" comment I made earlier about Sonic? Well dad was practically obsessed with the old ways, and never cared that no one pays attention to them anymore. Actually I'd be surprised if you know what I'm talking about."

He gives a short laugh, "Anyways, eventually I'd had enough, and left without looking back. Never saw my family again until I met Amy during the epidemic."

"Oh...So, are you happy with the others? Don't you ever think about your other family?" She asks, genuinely interested in Spike's history.

Spike shrugs, "Amy doesn't have much to do with them either. She won't tell me why, but then again I never really asked. i got the impression that they didn't even call her when she got her big break as an actress."

Spike, and Angel step out of the elevator leading out of Twinkle Park, still holding hands.

"Well, you guys seem really happy, so it definitely seems like you did the right thing." Angel says, yawning once again

Spike smirks, and without warning picks her up, bridal-style, without breaking his stride, "Yeah, you've got a point. Ask Rouge what our reunion was like sometime if you want a good laugh."

Angel yelps "Uhm...yeah...Spike, what are you doing? Put me down, I'm quite capable of walking!" She says, pouting at him.

Spike grins, "That face is exactly why, it's too cute!" He winks, and keeps walking.

"But I-" She sighs "God, what is with you and your stubbornness...I'm serious, you really don't have to do this. I'm not exactly gonna drop down dead at any moment, y'know..." She then thinks for a moment, "Wait...where are we going?"

Spike stops walking at that, and cocks his head, "Y'know... I'm not entirely sure. In our world you would've expected something to happen by now."

He frowns at her, "And you don't have to call me stubborn like it's a bad thing."

Angel raises a delicate eyebrow, "So...are we just gonna walk all night? Or what...?" She laughs and sticks her tongue out "I never said it was a bad thing."

Spike shakes his head, "If you hate having that thing in you mouth so much, then why do you keep putting it back in?" He laughs, and sets her on her feet.

"Wha...I never said I hated it. I'd rather have it in then out...because that would be weird..." She says, laughing at the random comments. "So, you finally see it my way" She grins

Spike rolls his eyes, "Nice comeback, really snappy; and I'm stubborn, not selfish. I'm willing to let a girl have her way every now, and then."

He shrugs, and checks the clock on his cellphone, "It's 10:25, probably about time to head back to the Egg-Carrier. Wanna come? I'm sure Cocoa could put you up for the night." He smiles, and puts the phone away.

Angel smiles and nods "Sure, I mean, if that's okay...I wouldn't want to intrude, and only if there's room...and no-one else minds..."

Spike shrugs, "Anyone who does can bite me." He pulls a funny-looking watch out of his quills, and puts it on. He presses a thumb to its face, and after two beeps a radar screen is projected on a nearby wall.

Spike sighs, "I thought as much, they went home already. Those microphones Shadow has us where double as GPS Tracers, and this little do-dad can only pick them up within fifty miles away." He turns off the projector, "No worries, we can rent a boat."

"Hm, that's cool." She says, grinning. "So...where do we get this boat from? I have no idea where we are..."

"I think I saw a pier back towards Twinkle Park, we can check there," he puts his thumbs in his pockets, because the spikes make putting in his whole hand awkward, and starts heading the way they came.

"So why don't you tell me a little about yourself, Sweetness?"

Angel walks beside him, "Umm… there's nothing much to tell really. I barely have any memories of my past. I used to have quite a few friends, until this whole situation started with...you know...and ever since I've been sticking it out on my own because everyone is either afraid what happened to me will happen to them, or they believe all the rumors. There's nothing special about me or my life..."

Spike folds his hands behind his head, "Y'mean you got Amnesia? Wow, rough. Did you know Shadow had that once, he might be able to help you if you want to try, and remember your past."

Angel pauses "I...guess so...I mean...I've never given it much thought. I'm just used to not knowing. I'm not sure if I want to know...maybe it's just better this way...I don't know, I'll think about it."

Spike chuckles, "The way Rouge told it was that Shadow almost caused an alien invasion while trying to get his memory back. Once he had it back, he decided that it didn't matter, and put his past behind him.

"A lot of people think Shadow is a cold, heartless bastard. They're half right I suppose; definitely cold, but far from heartless. And hey, this is coming from a guy he tossed in a trash can a few hours ago, so it's gotta be true."

"Hm, well I'm glad that he isn't. He genuinely seems like a nice guy...just a little abrupt. But I mean, you have been friends with him longer than I, you're used to it." She giggles. "How much further do we need to go?"

"There it is!" Spike jogs to it, and his face falls as he reads a sign, "... closes at nine..."

He shrugs with a frown, and turns to Angel, "I guess I'll walk you to your place, and then find a place to put up for the night." his face lightens up a bit as he looks at the clear night sky, "Just like old times... believe it or not, I've kinda missed the streets."

Angel stares at the sign, and then looks at Spike, "Shouldn't you let the others know you won't be able to get home? And I don't want you sleeping on the streets, it seems very uncomfortable, even if you are used to it. It doesn't seem very safe either." She scolds

"Aww, you're so sweet Sweetness, worried about me," he grins at her. "I really don't have a choice; Shadow, being the military man that he is, should probably have the place on lockdown by now. That means no means of communication, and the only way onto the ship is to give the right codes to the patrolling Shadow Androids. Sleeping in the streets is something I did for years, how many times I gotta say it? It'll be a bit like camping, and I can get home in the morning."

He looks up at the sky, "Doesn't look like it's gonna rain, and I saw that bed-frame back in that alley. With a little luck there'll be some cardboard in that dumpster, and I'm all set!"

"...I am not letting you sleep on the streets, that's horrible. What kind of friend would I be?! I have a spare room, you're welcome to stay in it until morning." She says, not liking the sound of sleeping on the streets.

Spike frowns, just the slightest bit put out, "Well, if street life teaches you anything, it's to never turn down a free lunch. I'll take you up on that, lead on!"

Angel raises her eyebrow "I never said anything about a free lunch... it's past lunchtime." She smirks, and walks down the street "It's not far from here, hurry up! I want to sleep!"

"It's a figure of speech, Sweetness," Spike says, jogging to catch up. "By the way, that jerk from the Park, you're not worried about him finding you after tonight?"

"...Oh..." Angel frowns, and then nods after a moment "Of course...I can never not worry about it...This is the first I've seen of him in a while actually, I was beginning to think they'd left me alone...alas, I was wrong. I ran into him the other day."

"Did ya manage to nail something other than that ugly mug?" Spike smirks, and raises an eyebrow at her.

Angel grins "No, unfortunately not. As tempting as that is, he got distracted, so I took that opportunity to get away. I'm sick of dealing with it, it's gone on for too long." She turns left down a road, and walks into the garden of the third house along.

Spike raises his eyes approvingly at his surroundings, "Your wish is my command. I'm not Shadow so I won't kill him, but a castration wouldn't go amiss, right?"

Angel smirks as she unlocks the door "Trust me, Spike, that would be great if it were to happen. I want nothing more than to hurt him just as much as he hurt me." She steps inside, taking her shoes off "Come on in, make yourself at home."

Spike comes in, and takes off his black, steel-toed boots. He looks around the house, "Very homey, haven't been in one of these since I was seven... except for Amy's place a few weeks back, but she lives in a palace, so it doesn't count."

Angel laughs "It's just your standard home, it's better than nothing." She gives Spike a look "I also know it's better than living on the streets." She then walks into the living room and sits on the couch "What do you want to do? I mean, if you're tired you can go to bed, or whatever really."

"Your house, your rules," Spike says, it seems to be a common rule of etiquette. "But which way is the spare room? Reave says that I've been known to drop without warning, which is only a slight exaggeration."

"It's upstairs, the first room on the right, you'll find it easy enough. Unless you want to go now, in case you do drop without warning." She giggles.

"I said that was an exaggeration! ...I give some warning," he pouts. His eyes light up when he notices a bowl of fruit on the table, eyeing the apples like an addict might a fresh fix.

Angel laughs "Okay, Okay, if you say so." She notices him looking at the fruit and rolls her eyes "Yes, Spike, you may." She answers his unasked question.

Spike glances at her, and then back at the fruit, "... I'll wait until morning."

He laughs at a sudden memory, "Y'know, this one time before the Epidemic Reave, and I were going past a HUGE apple tree in this lady's back yard. Reave had a talk with her, and she agreed to let us pick some for breakfast."

He face takes on a look of bliss, "Best. Breakfast. EVER. Come to think of it, that was when I first saw Reave use those knives of his. I remember wondering where a homeless guy like him, the honest kind, got eighteen throwing knives like that. When I asked he said they were a present from his big sister on his way out the door."

"Wow...his sister must be pretty awesome to get him knives as a present." Angel grins "That's pretty cool. What happened to her anyways? Does she live with you guys?"

"Nah, apparently Reave just left his house one day, kinda like I did. He doesn't like to talk about his past much, so I didn't push it. I'm the kinda guy who figures that people will tell you sensitive stuff like that when they're ready. That's why I haven't asked what that fox, and his minions did to you yet."

Spike stretches, and cracks his neck, "Well, I better hit the hay. G'night Sweetness!" Spike kisses her on the cheek, and starts up the stairs.

Angel freezes and frowns at what Spike said. She then thinks about something, "Spike, wait!" She calls out, and jogs up the stairs to stand in front of him on the landing.

Spike pauses, "Yeah, what's up?" He's worried that something's upset her.

Angel is quiet, and she bites her lip "I...I hope I will be able to tell you that stuff eventually, and I really appreciate you being so supportive about it… and..." She pauses, blushing heavily. "I...I-I like you too..." She very gently kisses the corner of his lips, and then pulls away, quickly retreating into her room, not seeing Spike's reaction.

Spike is utterly flabbergasted, a word he didn't even fully understand till now. He almost tumble head over heel down the stairs in his shock.

He closes his eyes, and smiles to himself before heading into the room Angel let him borrow. He's looking forward to his upcoming dreams, and the next day; a first for him for as long as he can remember.

Angel makes her way to bed, still blushing, and thinking about what she just did and how Spike would have reacted. She wondered if it was the right thing to do, or if she should have told him in another way. Sighing, she turns off the light, and gets into bed, snuggling into the covers. She'd just have to see what happens in the morning...


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone,**

**Sorry that this update is a bit late, I lost my flash drive for a while, and I think we all know how that feels -_-'**

**To our constant reviewer bearvalley3365, I speak for the both of us when I say we are beyond happy that you have such an interest in our story. We considered your request to put your OCs into the story, and we have the same opinion. We have too much of the story already written to use outside characters.**

**Chocoholic Princess: Personally, I agree with you. We've come so far already, and how are we going to add their OC's into here when we wouldn't know if we are writing them correctly?**

**So please don't be upset with us. :( We hope you'll continue to read, and review. It means the world to us.**

**BTW, Princess says "Hi!"**

**_Chapter Five_**

THE NEXT DAY...

Spike blinks his bleary eyes open, and sits up. He looks around, and the events of the previous night come rushing back to him. He smiles, "Best day of my life." He hops out of bed, and redresses himself in his usual clothes. As he leaves the room, and reaches the top of the stairs, a familiar woozy feeling comes over him.

"...Oh-"

KUH-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK! BAM!

Angel rushes out of her room on hearing the noise and looks down the stairs to see Spike on the floor. Her eyes widen and she practically leaps down them, crouching next to him. "Spike! Oh crap… Spike, can you hear me? Are you okay?!" She yells frantically.

Spike blinks his eyes open, "Sorry 'bout that... wasn't entirely awake yet... M'okay!"

He shakes the dizziness out of his head as he stands up.

Angel breathes a sigh of relief, "Next time, stay in bed until you're awake...instead of falling down the stairs. Don't worry me like that." She scolds, lightly slapping his shoulder.

Spike smirks, "Thanks for worrying Sweetness, I'll try to remember that." He kisses her cheek, a bit close to the mouth, and yawns as he heads off to attack the fruit bowl.

"Hm, you'd do well to. It's for your own safety after all." She says, and goes to sit on the couch. "So, what's going on today? Are you going back to the others?"

Spike walks into the living room, munching an apple, "That was kinda my plan, yeah. Also I've been thinking, don't be too shocked."

He takes a moment to sallow his food, and leans on the back of the couch, "I'm thinking that I'd like to take you on a date, and ACTUAL date. We already went to Twinkle Park, so I get to be a bit creative with it. What do you say, sound like fun?"

Angel smiles slightly, "Um...sure. But wasn't yesterday supposed to be a "Date"?"

Spike smiles at her, "Well, yesterday when I said "Date", it was mostly meant as a joke. But now that... y'know... We both know that we like each other, I kinda... still wanna find out if it could work out, y'know?"

He rubs his neck, and coughs awkwardly.

Angel blushes and looks away "Yeah...I know. What do we tell the others, though?"

Spike gives her an odd look, "Why not tell them the truth? I honestly can't see anyone objecting. Cocoa, and Reave would probably be happy for us if it does work out. Shadow wouldn't mind so long as it doesn't stir up trouble. But I swear I can hear Rouge saying-"

"My, how little Spike is growing up."

"Yeah, that..." Spike's eyes go wide, and he whips around, "What the-?! ROUGE?!"

The bat smirks at him, "The one, and only."

Spike is a little ticked now that he's over his shock, "What are you doing here? And how did you even get in? I think this is illegal on some level."

Rouge raises an eyebrow, and crosses her arms, "I'm a retired thief, and a GUN agent, Spike."

Angel is surprised at Rouge's appearance, and she raises an eyebrow "Uh...what are you doing here? Couldn't you have knocked on the door...like NORMAL people..." She asks, bewildered as to how the bat was able to get in without her knowing.

Rouge rolls her eyes, "Again, "Retired Thief". If the little man here is any indication, Shadow's group is far from normal. As for what I'm doing here, I came to deliver a message."

Rouge suddenly Axe-Kicks Spike in the head. As he hits the ground in a daze, Rouge crosses her arms again, "'That was for missing curfew, now get back to this ship before I decide to skin you!' " Rouge winks, "From Shadow."

Spike shakes his head, and gets back to his feet, "Okay, okay. Rouge, would you mind telling Shadow that I'm on my way, and that I'm bringing a guest?"

Angel is puzzled "But, why is it so bad if he misses curfew? Why do you guys even have a curfew?" She looks at Spike on the floor, hoping he is okay.

"It's for safety," Rouge explains. "Also Shadow is big on soldiers being "Disciplined" in their actions. Reave, Wolf, and Cocoa are already in line. He gave up on me a while back, but he thinks he can still train Spike."

Spike rolls his eyes, "You moon a bad guy once in a fight, and Shadow just won't quit griping about it."

"Well, I'll be sure to let him know that you two are on your way." As she heads for the front door she calls over her shoulder, "By the way Angel, I suggest getting a lock for your kitchen window. Right now it makes it too easy for someone to sneak in without breaking windows, or doors." And with that she's gone.

"Good riddance," Spike moans as he rubs the sore spot on his head.

"Oh crap...I really should get that fixed...as soon as possible." Angel says, deep in thought. "Lucky for me, he doesn't know where I live." She mumbles to herself, frowning.

Spike scoffs as gobbles the rest of his apple, "And even if he did, he'd have to deal with me too. My Katana, and your Nunchuks... He could bring a thousand guys, and he wouldn't stand a chance."

He heads for the door, and starts lacing his boots up.

"But that's the thing...It's...it's not that simple..." She follows him, and slips her shoes on too. "This entire situation is complicated, which is why I didn't want you to get involved in the first place."

"I think that's my choice to make," Spike notes as he opens the front door for them. "And I said it last night, though not in so many words: if that jerk, or anyone for that matter, tries to hurt you then I'll beat them within an inch of they're life. Really, there's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind."

"Well...that's nice of you...I think. Thanks, though. I appreciate it...but you know I really don't like the thought of you getting involved...you'll only become their target too...I don't want that." She says, locking her door, and walking down the path.

"What, you think it's just me they'll have to put up with?" Spike folds his hands behind his head, "You forget that while he can have all the friends he wants, mine are the most powerful there is! I'm pretty sure Reave would step in, more for your sake than mine. Cocoa would probably stick with him now that they're together. With the three of us behind you, the other half of the team might step in. Hell, Shadow might even just kill all those jerks to put a quick end to it."

Angel's jaw drops in surprise "What? Shadow? He doesn't seem like the type to meddle in people's business...I admit, it would be nice to finally stop all this, but there's always that chance something could go wrong, and I go from bad to worse. Though I'm not sure how much worse it can actually get..."

"I dunno, to me you're a Good Luck hedgehog so..." Spike trails off as his gaze wanders into an alleyway. He glances at the jewelry store next to it, and then jogs into the alley. With a hop he lands on the edge of a dumpster, and he looks like a kid on Christmas.

"Well I'll be!" He hops into the dumpster and his voice echoes out to Angel, "I've always said that you could find anything in the trash, but this is ridiculous! ... Oh man, Rouge is gonna FLIP when she sees this! ... Hey Sweetness, there's something in here for you too!"

Angel walks to where Spike is, "What? Why are you rummaging through rubbish? What are you talking about?" She asks, curious. "Seriously...you should get out of there...you don't know what's in it!"

"The heck I don't!" Spike's head pops over the edge of the dumpster, "Remember Sweetness, "One man's trash is another man's treasure!" As for treasure, I hit the motherload!"

There's a bag in his left hand, and a small box in his right. He tosses the box to Angel, which is surprisingly clean. Inside is a ring that one might expect one to buy when proposing.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Spike says hastily. "I just thought you might like it!" He puts the small bag in his quills, and starts heading in the direction of the pier.

Angel peeks inside, her eyes widening. "Why would someone throw this away?" She asks, catching up with him. "And what's in the bag, too?"

"Looks like someone pulled a robbery, and decided to ditch the find," Spike puts his thumbs in his pockets. "Maybe it'll get me out of owing Rouge those massages. And the ring? Well, it wasn't in the bag, so there's a good chance it wasn't part of the heist. Maybe an angry fiancé tossed it when her lover was unfaithful, maybe a kid threw it away without knowing what it was, or maybe it was payback of some kind. Doesn't really matter much now, it's got a better future in store for it while you have it, right?"

"I...I guess so. But I do think you have a good chance of bribing Rouge...I hear her weakness is jewelry." Angel laughs.

Spike grins as they approach a pier. He gives the old sailor who runs it the money for a small motorboat, and they step into it.

He unties it from the dock, and surveys the controls curiously. "Maybe this would be a good time to mention that I've never actually driven one of these before. Hey, what's this do?"

The lever Spike chooses to push turns out to be the throttle, which he turns to full, and sends them skipping over the waves.

Angel is nearly knocked off balance, but luckily, she doesn't end up falling off. "I hope you know where you're going, even if you don't know how to drive this thing."

"Never said that," Spike grabs the steering wheel, and gives it a hard turn out to sea. "I just said that I've never done it before. It's like driving a car on a really bumpy road." He takes a look at the compass on the dash in front of him, and makes a bearing for the northwest.

"Of course I never got my license for that either, but what the hey?" Spike shrugs, and grins at her.

Angel gives him a skeptical look "Hm, well, okay then. Where ARE we going?"

"To the Egg-Carrier," Spike says as if it's obvious. "A few years back when Eggman was trying to level Station Square, it landed in the ocean, and later sunk. A few months back he managed to bring it back to the surface, but it's still being repaired. It's Shadow's now since Eggman offed himself during the epidemic, but Wolf says we should get the Egg-Carrier back into the air in about a month."

"Ohhh...Okay then. How far is it from here?" Angel asks, a little excited to see it.

Spike checks their speed, "My guess... maybe an hour, or so."

Angel groans and sits down, making herself comfortable "Fine...I guess I'll just have to entertain myself...somehow..."

"Wanna play "I Spy"?" Spike laughs.

Angel gives him a bored look "Really, Spike, really? Isn't there anything ELSE to do?..." She sighs. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'W'..."

Spike looks around, "Hmm... Wave?"

Angel smirks "Haha...no..."

"Dang it," he smirks playfully. "Okay, how about... Wake?" He jerks a thumb behind the boat to the water parting.

"Nope...Come on! It's pretty easy!" She giggles.

"Jeez Sweetness, this one's a real head-scratcher," he demonstrates by scratching his head. "Okay, how about-? WHAT THE CRAP?!"

A large fish jumps out of the water, and smack Spike in the face. Infuriated, Spike wrestles the fish into a cooler, and sits on top of it.

"Oh man," he grins. "Reave is SO making sushi outa this." He nods to himself until he realizes no one is steering the boat.

"Yipe!" He leaps back to the wheel.

Angel's jaw drops, surprised "Whoa...that was awfully weird...and you actually just wrestled a fish...A FISH..." She shakes her head "My life has definitely gotten weirder since I met you guys...but, a good kind of weird." She winks.

Spike sits back in the "captain's" chair, and puts his feet on the steering wheel while folding his hands behind his head, "Yup, welcome to Wonderland, Sweetness! The land where cruel anti-heroes have hearts, cute guys dumpster-dive, and hulking aircrafts that should be hundreds of miles away are within sight of the shoreline..."

Spike blinks, having surprised himself with that last comment. He pulls some binoculars out of his quills, and looks ahead.

"Ahoy!" He shouts, "Thar she blows, the mighty... Ah, whatever."

He steers the ship towards the Egg-Carrier.

Angel's mood perks up "About time! I was getting bored of this! I don't like to sit around waiting...doesn't the Egg-Carrier have some kind of defense thing? Y'know, like when unidentified ships approach it sends out missiles? Or whatever..."

"Yeah," Spike points up. "That."

Before they can blink they're surrounded by Shadow Androids. The robots lift the boat out of the water, and one of them lands inside it. It looks Spike up and down before glancing at Angel.

"Guest," Spike crosses his arms.

A minute of silence, and then the android nods, "Confirmed, proceed."

The androids drop the boat back into the water, and take off again.

"...Oh...fair enough." She shrugs, "Let's go!"

Spike pulls alongside the Egg-Carrier, and a platform is lowered to them like an elevator. Spike never gets over hoe HUGE his new home is. This ship is so big it could be the Titanic's big brother!

A metal grill slides under the boat, and lifts it into the air with it's former passengers now on the standing platform. As it does a sudden thought comes to Spike's mind.

"You know, this ship was supposed to be a lot farther away... I'm probably in trouble if they had to use emergency fuel to steer it closer to shore."

Angel looks at her companion, "So, are they gonna yell at you? Or hit you? Or maybe both...? I hope Shadow doesn't get too mad...he seems pretty intimidating without a temper!" She grimaces

The platform comes to a stop at the ship's runway in the stern. Waiting for them is a hulking six-foot wolf with muscles that would make him the instant governor of California. From his elbows to his fingertips, and from his knees to his toe-tips his limbs are metal. He looks them over with red eyes that have black slits for pupils.

"Hey Wolf," Spike seems relieved to see him, and not Shadow.

"Hmm...he looks scary..." Angel mumbles, staring at the wolf. "...Is he here to welcome us...?"

His eyes fix on her, "Unknown Lifeform detected, identify yourself."

"Chill out Wolf, this is Angel. Angel, this is our Tech-Brain Wolf. Angel's with me man, so it's cool."

A moment of silence, and then Wolf says, "Update complete. Lifeform designation: Angel. Status: Friend. Welcome aboard the Egg-Carrier, Angel."

Wolf turns his head to Spike, "Shadow has requested that you attend an emergency meeting on the bridge. We must go now."

With that, Wolf turns, and starts walking towards the back of the ship, the ground trembling a little under each step.

Angel smirks "Well...that wasn't so bad, I guess. Should we follow him? Or should I just go...wherever...while you and Shadow go talk about stuff?"

"Yeah, Shadow doesn't call emergency meetings for nothing. We should check it out, with your mad skills you might be able to help."

Spike keeps talking as they walk, "Wolf is a pretty alright guy. He's a cyborg, meaning he's half machine. He was specifically made to replace Metal Sonic as Eggman's right-hand-bot. Shadow's he only master now, and the dude is powered by a Chaos Emerald believe it or not! I've never seen him in action though, the energy field around the Egg-Carrier makes it impossible for him to leave."

Angel listens intently, "Hm, that's interesting. So what does he do around here? Is it some kind of defense thing?" She pauses, "Wait...Shadow won't mind me being there, will he? I mean, he didn't know I was coming, right? So he probably doesn't expect me, and I don't want him to think I'm intruding...I'm still practically an outsider."

"Nah, I doubt he'll mind. And Wolf is pretty much the one responsible for putting this ship back together, though he should be able to kick major ass if he was supposed to replace the Abominable Tin Can out there."

A few minutes later they arrive on the bridge. The others are already there, and Rouge gives them a sly wink.

"Glad you could join us," Shadow growls at Spike, and glances at Angel. "I don't have time to kick you off my ship, so here's fair warning girl. You breathe a word of what happens here to anyone, and I will personally hunt you down to tear you limb from limb."

Spike leans to whisper in her ear, "Don't worry, he's just being that way 'cuz he's got a rep to keep."

"SIT DOWN!"

"Yes sir!" Spike takes Angel's hand, and sits next to Reave.

"Good," Shadow starts pacing in front of them all. "As most of you know, Wolf has recently launched a satellite into orbit for the purpose of locating the Chaos Emeralds."

"My firewalls have not been breeched," Wolf reports. "And in addition to the A.C.E. Field surrounding it, I have put up an inner force-field that will absorb any Kinetic Energy directed at it. There is no way for Metal Sonic to access it."

"Very good," Shadow says without breaking stride. "Now, the satellite isn't as precise as we would like, but we are 98% sure that there is a Chaos Emerald in Station Square. In order to find it before Metal does we will need to coordinate ourselves with close-range scanners to find it. are there any questions?"

Angel is frozen stiff, not daring to move. Yes, she had many questions, not understanding anything Shadow just said, but wouldn't dare to ask Shadow himself. She grips Spike's hand, wondering how long this will take. But, after some deep thinking, she timidly raises her hand, deciding to not let the Ultimate Lifeform intimidate her. "U-um...I-I do..." She squeaks, wondering if maybe, she should have just kept quiet...too late now.

Shadow stares at her calmly, fortunately his anger is directed at Spike, not her, "Yes, Angel?"

"Umm...a-am I involved in...this?" She asks, "And...is Spike in trouble? Because it really wasn't his fault, and I don't know what's so important about this curfew thing that Rouge said, but..." She stops, thinking it best to shut up.

Shadow closes his eyes, "Yes, you are involved because the idiot beside you decided to bring you here. I can't have you running around my ship without escort, and anyone I would give the job to is currently in this room. Spike was aware of when he was supposed to return, but still he chose to ignore that fact."

Shadow fixes Spike with a glare, "Angel is free to assist in the search if she wants to, but you had best pray that you find it, Spike..."

Spike shrugs with a cocky grin, "Okay." He reaches into his quills, and pulls out the golden Chaos Emerald.

Rouge's eyes widen, and Cocoa's jaw drops. Reave raises his eyebrows, "And where did you find that?"

"Dumpster," Spike grins, and glances at Angel.

Reave nods sagely, "You always did have a nose for the best finds."

Shadow snatches the emerald from Spike at stares at it for a moment, "... It's real."

Shadow looks at Spike out of the corner of his eye, "Congratulations, for once your incompetence worked in our favor."

"Thanks... I think," Spike rubs the back of his neck with his free hand.

Shadow tosses the Chaos Emerald to Wolf, "What's the status on the reactor?"

Wolf does some quick calculations, "Including my power source, we currently have three of the Chaos Emeralds. I believe we have enough now to run some higher level diagnostics on the main reactor. Once we have at least five emeralds we will be able to activate it, and afterwards we can keep it operational with a single emerald."

Shadow nods, and turns to the others, "That will be all for now, you're dismissed."

The others stand, and file out of the Bridge. As Spike, and Angel head out he says, "Hey, thanks for sticking up for me in there."

Angel smiles at him, "It's no problem. I mean, Shadow IS very...intimidating. But I can't believe you found THAT where you did! I mean, how did it even get in there in the first place? Is that what Shadow was saying you need to find?"

"Trust me," Rouge turns to face them. "The Chaos Emeralds have shown up in weirder places than dumpsters. I'm more surprises that the little man here found it."

"Would you quit calling me little," Spike pouts. Not including his unruly quills, Rouge is a good inch taller than him.

"By the way, I think you owe me something..." Rouge grins wickedly.

"Yeah, about that..." Spike gives her the bag of jewelry. She looks through it, and sighs.

"Well, most of this is gold, or silver, not the jewels I love. Most of the ones in here are fakes, tsk tsk. Oh! What have we here?"

She pulls out a diamond the size of a chicken egg, and watches it entranced as the sunlight glints off its facets.

"Hmmm... Well you're not completely off the hook, but at least you won't have to go near my feet. Remember, I never said WHAT kind of massages you owe me." She winks at Angel, "Don't worry, honey. I won't let him get too frisky."

Spike groans, "Could you save that kinda talk for Shadow, or Knuckles, and leave me out of it?!"

Rouge giggles, and walks off.

Spike pinches the bridge of his nose, "Try living with her, AND Shadow for a month, and you'll go insane too."

Angel smirks "Ummm...yeah, I think I would, which is why I'm kinda glad I don't. Frisky?" She laughs "Are you crushing on her too?" Angel raises her eyebrow, highly amused.

Spike scoffs, "What universe do you live in?" He chuckles before kissing her on the cheekbone, "Rouge just thinks she's a divine gift to men, and she's the biggest flirt ever known."

"For once he says something intelligent," Shadow walks up behind them. "Angel, I want a private word with you."

Spike looks surprised, "What for?"

Shadow closes his eyes, and crosses his arms, "If I wanted you to know, then I wouldn't have asked for a "private" word, now would I? Ah yes, I just remembered. We had to burn emergency fuel to get the ship closer to shore. Since you think you're such a great fighter, I want you to head to the Hot Shelter, and set the training regimen to level six."

"SIX?!" Spike's jaw drops, "But I can barely do level four!"

"Which means if you survive that you'll be ready for level five training." There is not an ounce of pity in Shadow's voice as he turns back to Angel.

Angel tenses, her thoughts running wild as she wonders just what exactly Shadow wants to say to her, and what the hell he was talking about with Spike. "Um...o-okay...but why can't Spike stay?" She glances at him, feeling slightly scared when she remembered his threat earlier.

"Because he needs to learn that I give orders for a reason," Shadow gives Spike a hard look. "Now, Spike."

Spike kisses Angel's cheek again, "Don't worry Angel, if he was going to hurt you he would have done it already."

As if to underline his sentence, Shadow plants a foot in his face.

"Bye Angel!" Spike walks off, rubbing his jaw.

Angel grimaces "Uh...m-must you really hurt him like that?" She looks up slightly at the taller hedgehog, which makes him all the more intimidating. "A-Am I in trouble? Because I promise I won't tell anyone! You can trust me." She tells him.

"Actually that's part of what I want to talk to you about," Shadow turns, and leads her to his quarters on the ship They obviously used to be Eggman's, but now they're his now. He motions for her to sit on a couch while he takes a seat in an armchair facing her.

"The others tell me that you defeated one of Metal Sonic's copies on your own, without too much effort I might add. While it's not anything I haven't seen before, it's still a feat worthy of being acknowledged."

He gives her a congratulatory nod before continuing, "Also, the others seem to like you, and my instincts tell me that you're trustworthy... If you have no objections, I would like to test your capabilities, and see if there's a place for you on my team."

Angel is pleasantly surprised at Shadow's offer. Her eyes widen and she relaxes, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I...um...wow. That's great! It's just..."

Shadow raises an eyebrow, and crosses his arms, "You're free to refuse, and I trust you're not stupid enough to betray us. Spike seems pretty fond of you, and if you're as good in a fight as I hope then you'll be more than welcome around here."

Angel thinks deeply about this, and the advantages it could have. After a moment, she nods. "I'd like to take you up on this. I could do with being able to learn some new skills actually..." She remembers the last time she encountered HIM...and how she wished she were stronger to be able to at least fight back. "But what if...what if I'm not good enough? And are you sure everyone else is okay with this?"

Shadow stands, "I'll decide if you're good enough. Even if you don't have what it takes to fight like I need you to, just having you on board will help with crew moral. The others already like you, I can't imagine them objecting."

He holds out a hand for her to shake, "Do we have a deal?"

Angel stares at his hand, then at his face. She nods, and places her hand firmly in his. "Deal!" She grins, happy with his offer. "But...why did this chat have to be in private? The others are going to know soon anyway..."

Shadow gives one of his rare small grins, "This way it's something of a surprise. Besides, I didn't want you pressured into this by them, or to get their hopes up if you said no."


End file.
